two cars are headed straight for each other, each at a constant speed of 40mph.
A. do the two cars have the same speed?
b. do the two cars have the same velocity?
c. what is the acceleration of each car while moving at a constant speed
They have the same speed since speed is a scalar quantity.
They do not have the same velocity since velocity is a vector quantity.
They are moving at a constant speed. What do you thing the acceleration is?
You can read speed on your speedometer. It is a scalar.
For velocity you need both the speedometer AND a compass. It is a vector.
If you move at constant velocity, no acceleration.
Acceleration = rate of change of velocity.
A. Yes, the two cars have the same speed of 40 mph. They are both traveling at a constant speed of 40 mph.
B. No, the two cars do not have the same velocity. Velocity is a vector quantity that takes into account the speed of an object as well as its direction. Since the two cars are headed towards each other, they have opposite directions. Thus, their velocities will have opposite signs or directions.
C. The acceleration of each car while moving at a constant speed is zero. Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity. Since both cars are moving at a constant speed, their velocities are not changing, and therefore the rate of change of their velocities (i.e., acceleration) is zero.
A. In order to determine if the two cars have the same speed, we need to compare their velocities. Since both cars are traveling at a constant speed of 40mph, they indeed have the same speed.
B. Velocity is a vector quantity that not only considers speed but also direction. In this case, the two cars are moving straight towards each other, so their velocities have equal magnitudes but opposite directions. Therefore, the two cars do not have the same velocity.
C. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. When an object is moving at a constant speed, its velocity does not change, resulting in zero acceleration. Therefore, while moving at a constant speed of 40mph, the acceleration of each car would be 0.