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A car is initially traveling at a speed of 18 meters per second. After merging onto a highway, it increases its velocity by 6 meters per second every second for a duration of 2.0 seconds. Following this acceleration, the car maintains this new speed. What is the car's velocity while on the highway?

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To find the car's velocity while on the highway, we start with its initial speed and account for the increase in velocity due to acceleration.

  1. The car's initial speed is 18 meters per second (m/s).
  2. The car accelerates at a rate of 6 meters per second squared (m/s²) for a duration of 2.0 seconds.

First, we can calculate the increase in velocity due to the acceleration using the formula:

\[ \text{Increase in velocity} = \text{acceleration} \times \text{time} \]

Substituting the values:

\[ \text{Increase in velocity} = 6 , \text{m/s}^2 \times 2.0 , \text{s} = 12 , \text{m/s} \]

Next, we add this increase to the initial speed to find the new speed of the car:

\[ \text{New speed} = \text{initial speed} + \text{increase in velocity} \]

Substituting the values:

\[ \text{New speed} = 18 , \text{m/s} + 12 , \text{m/s} = 30 , \text{m/s} \]

Thus, the car's velocity while on the highway is 30 meters per second.