In 10 seconds, a car accelerates from 4 m/s to 60 m/s. How fast was the car going before it accelerated?

The student has asked about calculating the initial speed of a car before it accelerated. This is a physics problem involving kinematics, specifically the concept of uniform acceleration. To find the initial speed, we use the formula Δv = a × t, where Δv is the change in velocity, a is the acceleration, and t is the time period.
In the given problem, we have the final velocity (v_f) as 60 m/s, acceleration (a) as 4 m/s², and time (t) as 10 seconds. We can rearrange the formula to find the initial velocity (v_i) as follows: v_i = v_f - (a × t). Plugging in the values, we get v_i = 60 m/s - (4 m/s² × 10 s) = 20 m/s.
Therefore, the car was going at 20 m/s before it accelerated.

Answered by LevonHelm | 2024-06-24

The car started at an initial speed of 4 m/s and accelerated to 60 m/s over a period of 10 seconds. The acceleration calculated during this time was 5.6 m/s². Therefore, the initial speed before acceleration was indeed 4 m/s.
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Answered by LevonHelm | 2024-09-05