Question

10. A student walking in the hallway sees a spill. When this happens, they slow down from 8.3 ft/s to a pace of 3.3 ft/s in 4 seconds. What is their acceleration?​

Answer 1

Acceleration = -1.33ft/s²

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the following data;

Initial velocity = 3.3ft/s

Final velocity = 3.3ft/s

Time, t = 4s

To find the 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.

Mathematically, acceleration is given by the equation;

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

Where,

• a is acceleration measured in
  `ms^(-2)`
• v and u is final and initial velocity respectively, measured in
  `ms^(-1)`
• t is time measured in seconds.

Substituting into the equation, we have;

`a = (3.3 - 8.3)/(4)`

`a = (-5.3)/(4)`

Acceleration = -1.33ft/s²

The value is negative because the final velocity is lesser than the initial velocity i.e the student is decelerating.