An electric toy car with a mass of 6kg is powered by a motor with a voltage of 7V and a current supply of 6A. How long will it take for the toy car to accelerate from rest to 4ms?

1 Answer
Jul 6, 2016

t=871.14sec

Explanation:

We can suggest two solutions.

Energy conservation approach leads to following solution.
The beginning kinetic energy of a toy car is zero. Ending energy is
E=mV22=6kg(4msec2)22=48J (joules)

This is exactly the amount of work (A) the electric motor has performed: E=A.

Power of the electric motor, that is its voltage times current (P=UI), time (t) and work (A) are related as
A=Pt

Therefore,
E=Pt=UIt
and
t=EUI=48J7V6A=4842=871.14sec

Different approach is related to analyzing the force and distance.
Assume, the time to accelerate from rest (V0=0) to V=4msec is tsec.
That means, acceleration equals to
a=VV0t=4tmsec2

The distance covered by a toy car equals to
S=V0+at22=4tt22=2t (meters)

The force of the electric motor that accelerates a toy car equals to its mass times acceleration (Second Newton's Law)
F=ma=6kg4tmsec2=24tkgmsec2=24tN (newton)

The work performed by a motor equals to force times distance:
A=FS=24t2t=48J (joules)

The power of the electric motor P (amount of work it does per unit of time) equals to a product of its voltage by current (amperage):
P=UI=7V6A=42W (watt or joule-per-second)

The work electric motor performs during the time t equals to its power multiplied by time:
A=Pt

Therefore, 48=42t from which follows
t=4842=871.14sec