Uniform Motion Word Problems

Example 1: A person runs at a speed of 4.0m/s

[East] for 6.3 minutes and then 3.0m/s [West]
for another 8.2s. What was the average speed
for the entire run? Average velocity?
Complete part 1 of the worksheet.

Accelerated Motion
Acceleration (
) tells us how quickly the
velocity is changing. This means the object is
doing one (or more) of the following:
a) Speeding up
b) Slowing down
c) Changing direction
Acceleration is a vector and needs direction.

Formula:
Units: m/s2

What does the + or indicate with

acceleration?
Think about these 4 cases and decide if it is
positive or negative acceleration. You may want
to sketch a quick v-t graph to help.
1) The object is speeding up in a positive
direction.
2) The object is slowing down in a positive
direction.
3) The object is speeding up in a negative
direction.
4) The object is slowing down in a negative
direction.
If the car is speeding up, the acceleration is in
the direction of motion.
If the car is slowing down, the acceleration is in
the opposite direction.

Example 1:
A car accelerates from rest to a velocity of
+80.0 km/h in 6.3 s. What was the average
acceleration? What does this type of
acceleration mean?

Example 2:
A car traveling at +75 km/h slows down to +25
km/h in 4.3 s. What was the acceleration?
What does this acceleration mean?
How would your answer change if the car was
traveling in a negative direction?

Think About These:

A. If the velocity of an object is zero, does
that mean that the acceleration is zero?
No, it does not. Consider the case of a car at
rest. When you step on the gas peddle, the car
starts accelerating. If the acceleration were
zero,
the velocity would not change and the car would
never move!
B. If the acceleration of an object is zero, does
that mean that the velocity is zero?
No, it does not. Any object moving at a constant
velocity (such as a car driving in a straight line
at a constant speed) has an acceleration of
zero.
Complete the second part of the worksheet and
read section 2.1 of text (pages 30 to 34).
Answer the Section Review questions 2 and 6.
What are the main ideas of this section?

Other equations
Sometimes we have to use more complicated
equations if we want to find out distance or if
we are not given enough of the information for
the a = v/t formula.
It is important to write down all the given
information and make an informed decision
about which formula to use.
Example 1: A car accelerates from 10.0km/h
to 45.0km/h in 13.0 s. How far has it traveled?

Example 2: A car travels 125 m in 9.3s while

accelerating from an initial speed of 33.0km/h.
What is the cars final speed?

Example 3: A car starts from rest and

accelerates at 2.3m/s2, covering a distance of
76m. How long did this take?

Example 4: A car starts from rest and reaches

a velocity of 40. m/s in 10. s.
A)What is its acceleration?
B)If its acceleration remains the same, what
will its velocity be 5.0 s later?

Example 5: The brakes of a car whose initial

velocity is 30. m/s are applied and the car
receives an acceleration of -2.0 m/s2.
A)How far will it have gone when its velocity
has decreased to 15 m/s?
B)How far will it have gone when it has come to
a stop?

Acceleration Questions 2 (most of them!)

Starter:
The brakes of a certain car produce an
acceleration of 6.0 m/s2.
A)How long does it take the car to come to a
stop from a velocity of 30. m/s?
t = 5.0s
B)How far does the car travel during the time
the brakes are applied?
d = 75m

Velocity-Time Graphs
We already know how to read the following
from a v-t graph:
Time
Velocity
Average acceleration
Displacement
Sometimes we dont have constant acceleration
though (ie, a straight line or a constant slope on
a v-t graph). We can also read instantaneous
acceleration off a v-t graph in these cases.
To find ainst draw a tangent line at that point
and find the slope of the tangent line

Why would we need to do this? So we can draw

an a-t graph from a d-t or v-t graph!

Acceleration-Time Graphs: The Basics

Time is on the x-axis. Units = s
Acceleration is on the y-axis. Units = m/s2
Time read off the x-axis
Acceleration read off the y-axis
Velocity Area between the curve and x-axis
If a line is straight: constant change in
acceleration
If a line is horizontal: constant acceleration
If a line is curved: not constantly changing a
If line is at the x-axis: a=0 (no acceleration)

Drawing a-t Graphs from d-t Graphs

1) Determine what is happening in the graph.
a. Is it constant motion?
b.Is it speeding up? Slowing down?
c. What direction is it going?
2) Draw a v-t graph first.
3) Draw an a-t graph.

Example 2:

Example 3:

Complete the questions 19 to 26 on the Acceleration 2

sheet.

Starter: Review Questions for Quiz

1. A student is rushing to get to physics

class on time, accelerating at a rate of
0.90m/s2 (from rest). If the student starts at
the office (20.0m away), how long does it
take to get to class?
6.7s
2. At an average speed of 11.8 km/h, how
far will bicyclist travel in 175 min?
34.4m
3. A car traveling 22 m/s accelerates at
-1.5m/s2. Find:
a. the distance it goes before it stops
b. the displacement before it stops
c. the time it takes to stop
d. the distance it travels during the 1st
second
a)
b)
c)
d)

d = 160m
d = +160m
t = 15s
d = 21m

Acceleration Due to Gravity

Galileo showed that all objects fall to Earth
with a constant acceleration. No matter what
the mass of the object is, or whether it is
dropped or thrown, as long as air resistance can
be ignored, the acceleration due to gravity is
the same for all objects at the same location on
Earth.
acceleration g = 9.81 m/s2
The velocity of a falling object is a negative
quantity and so is the acceleration of
a falling object.
***Extra Info: Gravity is greater at the poles
than at the Equator due to the bulges at the
Equator.

Gravity Word Problems

Ex. 1:
The time the Demon Drop ride at Cedar Point,
Ohio is freely falling is 1.5 s.
A) What is its velocity at the end of this time?
B) How far does it fall?
Given: t = 1.5s
a = -9.81
vi = 0

(Demon DROP so not pushed)

vf = ?
v f vi at

Vf = 0 + (-9.81)(1.5) = -

or [down]

1
2

2
b) d vi t at

d = 0(1.5) + (-9.81)(1.5)2

Ex. 2:
A tennis ball is thrown straight up with an initial
velocity of +22.5 m/s. It is caught at the same
distance above ground from which it was
thrown.
A) How high does the ball rise?
B) How long does the ball remain in the air?
A) Given: vi = +22.5 m/s

a = -9.81m/s2
vf = 0 (at top)
v 2f vi2 2ad

0 = 22.5*22.5 + 2(-9.81)(d)
B)

t=

Must multiply by 2 as it stays in the air going up and down.

Complete Challenging Kinematics Problems