A car accelerates from 0.0 to 33 m/s in 6.0 seconds. What is the magnitude of the acceleration?
I got 198 but the answer is 5.5?? Not understanding this.
acceleration is the rate of change of velocity
a = ∆v/∆t = (33-0)m/s / (6-0)s = 5.5 m/s^2
how did you get 198?
33*6 = 198, but that is m/s * s = meters
That is the distance covered in 6 seconds at a constant speed of 33 m/s
A good way to avoid that kind of mistake is to keep track of the units. If you don't wind up with m/s^2 you have done something wrong.
v = at + c
when t = 0, v = 0 , thus c = 0
so we have v = at
when t = 0 , v = 0
when t = 6, v = 33
33 = 6a
a = 33/6 = 5.5
To calculate the magnitude of acceleration, you need to use the formula:
acceleration = (final velocity - initial velocity) / time
In this case:
- The final velocity is 33 m/s
- The initial velocity is 0.0 m/s
- The time is 6.0 seconds
Now let's substitute these values into the formula:
acceleration = (33 m/s - 0.0 m/s) / 6.0 s
acceleration = 33 m/s / 6.0 s
Calculating this, you should get:
acceleration = 5.5 m/s²
Therefore, the correct magnitude of acceleration is 5.5 m/s², not 198. If you got a different answer, please check your calculations again to ensure there were no errors made during the calculation.