Acceleration: Extra Practice

1. Meet Jimmy (see to the right). Jimmy drives race cars in

his spare time just because. At the start of the race,
Jimmy accelerates from rest to a speed of 200 km/h [E] in
6.00 s. What is the acceleration of Jimmy’s car in m/s2 ?

2. While slowing down towards a pit stop, Jimmy applies the

brakes and slows down from 15.0 m/s [W] to 5.00 m/s
Jimmy (the race car driver)
[W] in 4.00 s. Determine the car’s acceleration.

3. Jimmy (a different one) is a professional golfer.

Sometimes he pranks the humans by dropping golf balls
from balconies onto their heads (please don’t try this at
home). One of the balls starts from rest and hits the
sidewalk 1.5 s later with a velocity of 14.7 m/s. Find the
average acceleration of the golf ball.

Jimmy (the golfer)

4. Jimmy (another different one) likes to swim. How long

would it take Jimmy to bring his swimming from an initial
velocity of 1.2 m/s to a complete stop (to avoid hitting
the wall of the pool) if his acceleration is 0.50 m/s2
backwards?

5. Jimmy is feeling adventurous and moves his swimming

to the ocean. He is swimming at a constant speed of 0.5
m/s when suddenly, he notices a shark appear behind
him. Five seconds later, Jimmy is swimming in the same
direction at a speed of 2.5 m/s. Calculate Jimmy’s
Jimmy (the swimmer)
acceleration.

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 6. Jimmy (this one is the same as race car Jimmy but this time he is in
Japan) is riding on some of the fastest elevators in the world in the
Landmark Tower in Yokohama, Japan. In the elevator, Jimmy
accelerates upward at 3.125m/s2 for 4.0 s to reach the final speed. If the
elevators start from rest, what is this final speed?

Jimmy (the race car driver,

but this time in Japan)

7. Jimmy (a new one again) is a soccer star. He kicks a ball and it

travels at a velocity of 43.2 km/h. After 1 minute, it comes to a stop.
What is the acceleration of Jimmy’s ball in m/s2 ?

8. Jimmy the soccer star also likes to ride motorbikes. The following
table shows Jimmy’s speed with respect to time as he accelerates
Jimmy (a soccer star and
on his motorbike. What is Jimmy’s acceleration over the course of
motorbike rider)
the first 10 seconds if he starts from rest?

Time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Velocity (m/s) 0.0 6.9 13.8 20.7 27.6 34.5 41.4 48.3 55.2 62.1 69.0

9. Jimmy drives a bus. The graph below shows

how the speed of Jimmy’s bus changes
during a part of his journey. Between each
set of points (O → A, A → B, B → C, etc.),
state whether Jimmy’s bus is accelerating,
decelerating, at a constant speed, or at rest.

Challenge Questions:

10. Jimmy is an emergency responder and drives an ambulance. The ambulance

is currently travelling at 54.0 km/h and is accelerating with a constant
acceleration of 5.00 m/s2. Jimmy’s ambulance is attempting to pass a car
which is moving at a constant velocity of 108.0 km/h. How far must Jimmy’s
ambulance travel until it matches the car’s velocity?
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑−𝑣
𝑣𝑓 ⃑⃑⃑⃑𝑖 1
HINT: Use the formulas 𝑎⃑ = and ⃑⃑
d = ⃑⃑⃑
𝑣𝑖 𝑡 + 𝑎⃑⃑ 𝑡2 Jimmy (a trauma llama)
∆𝑡 2

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Worked Solutions (Q1-4):

1. Let [E] be the positive direction and [W] be the negative direction.
200km 1000 m 1h
𝑣𝑖 = 0 km/h
⃑⃑⃑⃑ 𝑣𝑓 =
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑ × × = 55. 5̅ m/s
h 1 km 3600 s
𝑣𝑓 = 200 km/h
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑−𝑣
𝑣𝑓 ⃑⃑⃑⃑𝑖 (+55.556 m/s)−(0 m/s)
∆t = 35 s 𝑎⃑ =
∆𝑡
=
6.00 s
= +9.259m/s 2 = 9.26 m/s 2 [E]
𝑎⃑ = ? m/s2

2. Let [E] be the positive direction and [W] be the negative direction
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑−𝑣
𝑣𝑓 ⃑⃑⃑⃑𝑖 (−5.00 m/s)−(−15.0 m/s)
𝑣𝑖 = 15.0 m/s [W]
⃑⃑⃑⃑ 𝑎⃑ = = = +2.5 m/s 2 = 2.50 m/s 2 [E]
∆𝑡 4.00 s
𝑣𝑓 = 5.00 m/s [W]
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑
∆t = 4.00 s
𝑎⃑ = ? m/s2

3. Let [up] be the positive direction and [down] be the negative direction
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑−𝑣
𝑣 𝑓 ⃑⃑⃑⃑𝑖 (−14.7 m/s)−(0 m/s)
𝑣𝑖 = 0 m/s
⃑⃑⃑⃑ 𝑎⃑ = = = −9.8 m/s 2 = 9.8 m/s 2 [down]
∆𝑡 1.5 s
𝑣𝑓 = 14.7 m/s [down]
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑
∆t = 1.5 s
𝑎⃑ = ? m/s2

4. Let [forward] be the positive direction and [backward] be the negative direction
⃑⃑⃑⃑
𝑣𝑓 −𝑣⃑⃑⃑𝑖 ⃑⃑⃑⃑
𝑣𝑓 −𝑣⃑⃑⃑𝑖 (0 m/s)−(+1.2 m/s)
𝑣𝑖 = 1.2 m/s [forward]
⃑⃑⃑⃑ ⃑⃑ =
𝑎
∆𝑡
→ ∆𝑡 =
⃑⃑
𝑎
=
−0.50 m/s2
= 2.4 s
⃑⃑⃑⃑⃑𝑓 = 0 m/s
𝑣
𝑎⃑ = 0.50 m/s2 [backward]
∆𝑡 = ? s2

Answers (Q5-10):

5. 𝑎⃑ = + 0.4 m/s2 9. In order from O, through A, B, C, D, E, to F:

accelerating, constant speed, decelerating, at
6. 𝑣⃑ = 12.5 m/s [upward] rest, accelerating, constant speed

7. 𝑎⃑ = − 0.20 m/s 2 10. ⃑⃑

d = 67.5 m

8. 𝑎⃑ = + 6.9 m/s2

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