Question

A student is leaving the lesson and walking to Maths at a speed of 1m/s. He notices that he is late for the lesson and speeds up to 3 m/s. It takes him 4 seconds to speed up. Calculate his acceleration.

Answer 1

Acceleration = 0.5 m/s²

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the following data;

Initial velocity, u = 1m/s

Final velocity, v = 3m/s

Time, t = 4 seconds

To find acceleration;

In physics, acceleration can be defined as the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time.

This simply means that, acceleration is given by the subtraction of initial velocity from the final velocity all over time.

Hence, if we subtract the initial velocity from the final velocity and divide that by the time, we can calculate an object’s acceleration.

Mathematically, acceleration is given by the equation;

`Acceleration (a) = (final \; velocity - initial \; velocity)/(time)`

`a = (v - u)/(t)`

Substituting into the equation, we have;

Acceleration = (3 - 1)/4

Acceleration = 2/4

Acceleration = 0.5 m/s²