Question

car accelerates from 0 to 60 mi/hr in a time of 5.8 secs.

a. What is the acceleration of car in m/s squared?

need help setting up the problem, thanks


acceleration
= (speed change)/(time interval)

To get the answer in m/s^2, the speed change of 60 mi/hr must first be converted to m/s.
60 mi/hr = (88 ft/s)*(0.3048 m/ft) = 26.8 m/s

Divide that by 5.8 s for the acceleration in m/s^2


You first need to convert the 60 mi/hr to meters/sec. Then the final velocity - initial velocity / time period will give the average acceleration in that time period.
If the answer was in mi/hr then we'd have (60-0)/5.8 mi/sec^2 = 10.3 mi./hr /sec. We could also convert 60mi/hr to 88ft/sec, then avg. accel = (88-0)/5.8 ft/sec^2 = 15.2 ft/sec^2 would be the average acceleration of the car in going from 0 to 60 mi/hr in that time span. Keep in mind that this is not m/sec^2 as the problem requires.

Answer 1

4.62 m/s squared