An object is at rest at (4 ,5 ,1 ) and constantly accelerates at a rate of 4/3 m/s^2 as it moves to point B. If point B is at (7 ,2 ,6 ), how long will it take for the object to reach point B? Assume that all coordinates are in meters.

1 Answer
Jun 18, 2016

It takes 3.14 s.

Explanation:

The equation of motion for a constant accelerating object is

s=1/2at^2 where s is the space traveled, a is the acceleration and t is the time.

We are interested in the time that is

t=sqrt((2s)/a).

The acceleration is given, then we need the space.
The distance between two point in space p_1(x_1, y_1, z_1), p_2(x_2, y_2, z_2) is given by

d=sqrt((x_1-x_2)^2+(y_1-y_2)^2+(z_1-z_2)^2).

For us

d=sqrt((4-7)^2+(5-2)^2+(1-6)^2)

=sqrt((-3)^2+(3)^2+(-5)^2)

=sqrt(9+9+25)=sqrt(43)\approx6.56.

This is the distance that the object has to travel, so we can write
s=6.56 m. We now have all the ingredients

t=sqrt((2s)/a)

=sqrt((2*6.56" m")/(4/3"m"/"s"^2))

=sqrt((13.12" m")/("m")*3/4 "s"^2)

=sqrt(9.84" s"^2)

=sqrt(9.84" s"^2)\approx3.14" s".