Final answer:
The motion of a piston in a hand-driven tire pump during air compression is linear. The piston moves up and down in a straight path. Work and average force exerted can be calculated using the piston's dimensions and the exerted pressure.
Step-by-step explanation:
A hand-driven tire pump has a piston with which type of motion when air is being compressed? The answer is b) Linear. In the context of a hand-driven tire pump, the piston moves up and down along a straight path as it compresses air, which is a linear motion.
When discussing the motion of the piston in a hand-driven tire pump, it's essential to understand that this motion is not rotational, oscillatory, or random. Although the motion is repetitive, oscillatory motion typically refers to periodic motions, like those of a pendulum, which swing back and forth from a fixed point. The piston of a tire pump doesn't swing around a point, but rather moves directly up and down in a linear path.
Work done by the piston can be calculated when its diameter, stroke, and the average pressure exerted are known. It requires applying the formula for work done in compressing a gas which combines force and distance. To find the average force exerted on the piston, it is necessary to consider the area over which the pressure is applied, as represented by the formula Force = Pressure * Area.