A car is traveling at a constant speed of 12 m/s. When the driver accelerates, the car reaches a speed of 26 m/s in 6 s. What is the average acceleration of the car?

1 Answer
May 17, 2016

a=7/3m/s^2

Explanation:

So the suvat equations are needed here, or rather one in particular:

v=u+at

(Where u is initial speed, v is final speed, a is acceleration and t is time).

This can be rearranged (to get a):

at=v-u

a=(v-u)/t

Since u is 12 m/s, v is 26 m/s and t is 6 s:

a=(26-12)/6

a=14/6

a=7/3 m/s^2

These are the equations of motion if you'd like to use them without further proof: (they only work for constant acceleration, variable acceleration needs calculus).

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