Question

A cheetah running 10 m/s accelerates to catch a gazelle. The cheetah accelerates at 4 m/s^2 for 5 s when it catches up to the gazelle. What was the cheetah's final velocity?

Answer 1

The cheetah's final velocity, after accelerating at 4 m/s² for 5 seconds starting from an initial velocity of 10 m/s, is 30 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the cheetah's final velocity, we use the formula for acceleration: final velocity (v) = initial velocity (u) + acceleration (a) × time (t). Given that the cheetah's initial velocity is 10 m/s, the acceleration is 4 m/s², and the time of acceleration is 5 s, we can calculate the final velocity as follows:
v = u + at
v = 10 m/s + (4 m/s² × 5 s)
v = 10 m/s + 20 m/s
v = 30 m/s. Therefore, the cheetah's final velocity after accelerating for 5 seconds is 30 meters per second.