a car is travelling at 20m/s along a straight line. the brakes are applied and the car retardation is 3m/s2 for 5s. find the cars final velocity

1 answer

To find the car's final velocity after the brakes are applied, we can use one of the basic kinematic equations for uniformly accelerated (or decelerated) motion. The equation we'll use is:

\[ v_f = v_i + a t \]

where:
- \( v_f \) is the final velocity,
- \( v_i \) is the initial velocity,
- \( a \) is the acceleration (or in this case, deceleration since it is negative),
- \( t \) is the time.

Given:
- The initial velocity (\( v_i \)) is 20 m/s,
- The retardation (deceleration, \( a \)) is \(-3 \) m/s² (it's negative because it's a deceleration),
- The time (\( t \)) is 5 seconds.

Plugging in these values:

\[ v_f = 20 \text{ m/s} + (-3 \text{ m/s}^2 \times 5 \text{ s}) \]

\[ v_f = 20 \text{ m/s} - 15 \text{ m/s} \]

\[ v_f = 5 \text{ m/s} \]

So the car's final velocity after applying the brakes for 5 seconds is 5 m/s.