magnitude and direction of acceleration

[bumblebee]

1. You are going toward home plate at speed of 5.9 m/s when you hit the dirt. You slide for 1.1 s just reaching the plate as you stop.
a)What is the magnitude and direction of your acceleration?
b) How far did you slide?


I got 5.36 m/s^2 for the acceleration. Not sure if I did this right.

[LowlyPion]

1. You are going toward home plate at speed of 5.9 m/s when you hit the dirt. You slide for 1.1 s just reaching the plate as you stop.
a)What is the magnitude and direction of your acceleration?
b) How far did you slide?


I got 5.36 m/s^2 for the acceleration. Not sure if I did this right.

Welcome to PF.

That looks OK for magnitude. Which direction was the acceleration? Toward the plate or toward 3rd base?

Now how far was the slide. Do you have an equation that would give you the distance if you know the acceleration and time?

[bumblebee]

Thanks, LowlyPion.

Is it d=vt + 1/2at^2?

I'm getting all these equations confused.

[LowlyPion]

Thanks, LowlyPion.

Is it d=vt + 1/2at^2?

I'm getting all these equations confused.

That works as long as you realize that you are coming to a stop, so velocity will be 0.

Alternatively since you also know velocity you could use the relationship that

V2 = 2 a x

That should yield the same result.

It's important to understand that the relationships between distance, time, acceleration can be reworked in a number of ways to express things in terms that you may have directly to find what you need.

This link may provide you with a list of the equations as a brief reference:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=905663&postcount=2

[bumblebee]

Thanks! This helps!