Understanding Acceleration in Physics
How do we calculate acceleration in physics?
Given the data that a car accelerates uniformly from rest to 25 m/s over a distance of 30 meters, what is the acceleration of the car?
Calculation of Acceleration
To calculate acceleration, we can use the formula a = v/t where a represents acceleration, v is the change in velocity, and t is the change in time. In this scenario, a car starts from rest and accelerates to a velocity of 25 m/s over a distance of 30 meters.
Given:
Initial velocity (u) = 0 m/s
Final velocity (v) = 25 m/s
Distance (s) = 30 meters
Using the equation of motion:
v^2 = u^2 + 2as
(25)^2 = (0)^2 + 2a(30)
625 = 60a
Therefore, a = 625/60 = 10.41 m/s^2
Hence, the acceleration of the car is 10.41 m/s^2.