A steam catapult launches a jet aircraft from the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, giving it a speed of 175 mi/h in 2.50 s. (a) Find the average acceleration of the plane. (b) Assuming that the acceleration is constant, find the distance the plane moves. Need explanation. Thanks

Divide your top speed by the number of seconds. This gives you the average acceleration. Once you know your average acceration multiply by the duration of the force, 2.5 seconds to determine distance.

Ballengerb1 is right about the average acceleration. However, to find distance traveled you actually need to multiply by 1/2 times the square of the duration.

x = 1/2 * a * t^2