Acceleration Problems 2.

• Acceleration is the rate of change in the speed of an object. To determine the rate of acceleration, you use the
formula below. The units for acceleration are meters per second per second or m/sec2.

Final speed – Beginning speed

Acceleration = -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time
v2 – v 1
a = ---------------
-
t
• A positive value for acceleration refers to the rate of speeding up, and negative value for acceleration refers
to the rate of slowing down. The rate of slowing down is also called deceleration.
• The acceleration formula can be rearranged to solve for other variables such as final speed (v2) and time (t).

v2 = v1 + a t
v2 – v1
t = ---------------
-
a

• A skater increases her velocity from 2.0 m/sec to 10.0 m/sec in 3.0 seconds. What is the skater’s
acceleration?
Looking for Solution
Acceleration of the skater 10.0 m 2.0 m 8.0 m
----------------- – -------------- --------------
Given sec sec sec 2.7 m
Acceleration = ------------------------------------- = -------------- = -------------
Beginning speed = 2.0 m/sec 3 sec 3 sec sec
2

Final speed = 10.0 m/sec

The acceleration of the skater is 2.7 meters per
Change in time = 3 seconds second per second.
Relationship
v 2 – v1
a = ---------------
-
t
Page 2 of 3

• A car accelerates at a rate of 3.0 m/sec2. If its original speed is 8.0 m/sec, how many seconds will it 2.2
take the car to reach a final speed of 25.0 m/sec?
Looking for Solution
The time to reach the final speed. 25.0 m/sec – 8.0 m/sec
Time = -------------------------------------------------------
Given 3.0 m/sec
2

Beginning speed = 8.0 m/sec

Final speed = 25.0 m/sec 17.0 m/sec
Time = -------------------------- = 5.7 sec
2
Acceleration = 3.0 m/sec2 3.0 m/sec
Relationship The time for the car to reach its is 5.7 seconds.

v2 – v1
t = ---------------
-
a

1. While traveling along a highway a driver slows from 24 m/sec to 15 m/sec in 12 seconds. What is the
automobile’s acceleration? (Remember that a negative value indicates a slowing down or deceleration.)
Looking for Solution
Given
Relationship

2. A parachute on a racing dragster opens and changes the speed of the car from 85 m/sec to 45 m/sec in a
period of 4.5 seconds. What is the acceleration of the dragster?

3. The cheetah, which is the fastest land mammal, can accelerate from 0.0 mi/hr to 70.0 mi/hr in 3.0 seconds.
What is the acceleration of the cheetah? Give your answer in units of mph/sec.

4. The Lamborghini Diablo sports car can accelerate from 0.0 km/hr to 99.2 km/hr in 4.0 seconds. What is the
acceleration of this car? Give your answer in units of kilometers per hour/sec.

5. Which has greater acceleration, the cheetah or the Lamborghini Diablo? (To figure this out, you must
remember that there are 1.6 kilometers in 1 mile.) Be sure to show your calculations.
Page 3 of 3

6. The table below includes data for a ball rolling down a hill. Fill in the missing data values in the table 2.2
and determine the acceleration of the rolling ball.
Time (seconds) Speed (km/h)
0 (start) 0 (start)
2 3
6
9
8
10 15

7. A car traveling at a speed of 30.0 m/sec encounters an emergency and comes to a complete stop. How much
time will it take for the car to stop if its rate of deceleration is -4.0 m/sec2?

8. If a car can go from 0.0 to 60.0 mi/hr in 8.0 seconds, what would be its final speed after 5.0 seconds if its
starting speed were 50.0 mi/hr?

9. A cart rolling down an incline for 5.0 seconds has an acceleration of 4.0 m/sec2. If the cart has a beginning
speed of 2.0 m/sec, what is its final speed?

10. A helicopter’s speed increases from 25 m/sec to 60 m/sec in 5 seconds. What is the acceleration of this
helicopter?

11. Below are three situations. In which is the acceleration most similar to the helicopters in question 10?
a. An object going from 0 m/sec to 25 m/sec in 5 seconds.
b. An object going from 0 m/sec to 7 m/sec in 2 seconds.
c. An object going from 5 km/h to 30 km/h in 1 second.
Newton's Second Law 2.2

• Newton’s second law states that the acceleration of an object is directly related to the force on it, and
inversely related to the mass of the object. You need more force to move or stop an object with a lot of mass
(or inertia) than you need for an object with less mass.
• The formula for the second law of motion (first row below) can be rearranged to solve for mass and force.
What do you want to know? What do you know? The formula you will use
acceleration (a) force (F) and mass (m)
force
acceleration = ------------
mass

mass (m) acceleration (a) and force (F)

force -
mass = ----------------------------
acceleration

force (F) acceleration (a) and mass (m)

force = acceleration mass

• How much force is needed to accelerate a truck with a mass of 2,000 kilograms at a rate of 3m/sec2?
3m m
F = m a = 2,000 kg ---------- = 6,000 kg ---------- = 6,000 N
2 2
sec sec

• What is the mass of an object that requires 15 N to accelerate it at a rate of 1.5 m/sec2?
15 kg-m
--------------------
2
F 15 N sec
m = --- = ------------- = -------------------- = 10 kg
a 1.5 m 1.5 m
------------- -------------
2 2
sec sec

1. What is the rate of acceleration of a 2,000-kilogram truck if a force of 4,200 N is used to make it start
moving forward?

2. What is the acceleration of a 0.30 kilogram ball that is hit with a force of 25 N?

3. How much force is needed to accelerate a 68 kilogram-skier at a rate of 1.2 m/sec2?

4. What is the mass of an object that requires a force of 30 N to accelerate at a rate of 5 m/sec2?

5. What is the force on a 1,000 kilogram-elevator that is falling freely under the acceleration of gravity only?

6. What is the mass of an object that needs a force of 4,500 N to accelerate it at a rate of 5 m/sec2?

7. What is the acceleration of a 6.4 kilogram bowling ball if a force of 12 N is applied to it?
Acceleration Due to Gravity 2.3

Acceleration due to gravity is known to be 9.8 meters/second/second or 9.8

m/sec2 and is represented by g. Three conditions must be met before we can
use this acceleration: (1) the object must be in free fall, (2) the object must
have negligible air resistance, and (3) the object must be close to the surface of
Earth.
In all of the examples and problems, we will assume that these conditions have
been met. Remember that speed refers to “how fast” in any direction, but
velocity refers to “how fast” in a specific direction. The sign of numbers in
these calculations is important. Velocities upward shall be positive, and
velocities downward shall be negative. Because the y-axis of a graph is
vertical, change in height shall be indicated by y.
Here is the equation for solving for velocity:
final velocity = initial velocity + the acceleration due to the force of gravity time

OR

v = v 0 + gt

Imagine that an object falls for one second. We know that at the end of the
second it will be traveling at 9.8 meters/second. However, it began its fall at
zero meters/second. Therefore, its average velocity is half of
9.8 meters/second. We can find distance by multiplying this average velocity
by time. Here is the equation for solving for distance. Look to find these
concepts in the equation:
the acceleration due to the force of gravity time
distance = ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- time
2

OR
1 2
y = --- gt
2

Example 1: How fast will a pebble be traveling 3 seconds after being dropped?
v = v 0 + gt
2
v = 0 + – 9.8 meters/sec 3 sec

v = – 29.4 meters/sec
(Note that gt is negative because the direction is downward.)
Page 2 of 2

Example 2: A pebble dropped from a bridge strikes the water in exactly 4 seconds. How high is the 2.3
bridge?
1 2
y = --- gt
2
1
y = --- 9.8 meters/sec 4 sec 4 sec
2
1 2
y = --- 9.8 meters/sec 4 sec 4 sec
2
y = 78.4 meters
Note that the terms cancel. The answer written with the correct number of significant figures is 78 meters. The
bridge is 78 meters high

1. A penny dropped into a wishing well reaches the bottom in 1.50 seconds. What was the velocity at impact?
2. A pitcher threw a baseball straight up at 35.8 meters per second. What was the ball’s velocity after
2.50 seconds? (Note that, although the baseball is still climbing, gravity is accelerating it downward.)
3. In a bizarre but harmless accident, Superman fell from the top of the Eiffel Tower. How fast was Superman
traveling when he hit the ground 7.80 seconds after falling?
4. A water balloon was dropped from a high window and struck its target 1.1 seconds later. If the balloon left
the person’s hand at –5.0 m/sec, what was its velocity on impact?
5. A stone tumbles into a mine shaft and strikes bottom after falling for 4.2 seconds. How deep is the mine
shaft?
6. A boy threw a small bundle toward his girlfriend on a balcony 10.0 meters above him. The bundle stopped
rising in 1.5 seconds. How high did the bundle travel? Was that high enough for her to catch it?
7. A volleyball serve was in the air for 2.2 seconds before it landed untouched in the far corner of the
opponent’s court. What was the maximum height of the serve?

The equations demonstrated so far can be used to find time of flight from speed or distance,
respectively. Remember that an object thrown into the air represents two mirror-image flights, one up
and the other down.

Original equation Rearranged equation to solve for time

v–v
Time from velocity v = v 0 + gt t = ------------0-
g
1 2 2y
Time from distance y = --- gt t = ------
2 g

8. At about 55 meters/sec, a falling parachuter (before the parachute opens) no longer accelerates. Air friction
opposes acceleration. Although the effect of air friction begins gradually, imagine that the parachuter is free
falling until terminal speed (the constant falling speed) is reached. How long would that take?
9. The climber dropped her compass at the end of her 240-meter climb. How long did it take to strike bottom?
10. For practice and to check your understanding, use these equations to check your work in Sections 2 and 3.