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?

A. -10 m/s^2
B. 54 m/s^2
C. 30 m/s^2
D. -46 m/s^2

Answer 1

The cheetah's final velocity is calculated as 30 m/s by using the formula for final velocity with constant acceleration, correcting the listed option to indicate velocity rather than acceleration.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the cheetah's final velocity, we use the formula for final velocity with constant acceleration: final velocity (v) = initial velocity (u) + (acceleration (a) × time (t)) Given that the cheetah is initially running at 10 m/s and accelerates at 4 m/s² for 5 seconds, we can substitute these values into the formula: final velocity = 10 m/s + (4 m/s² × 5 s) final velocity = 10 m/s + 20 m/s final velocity = 30 m/s Therefore, option C. 30 m/s² is incorrect, as it should not have the units of acceleration (m/s²) but velocity (m/s). The correct answer is that the cheetah's final velocity is 30 m/s.