Finding the velocity and position of a particle from a graph

[iamjohnny56]

Homework Statement

Consider the plot below describing the acceleration of a particle along a straight line with an initial position of −15 m and an initial velocity of −3 m/s.

A. What is the velocity at 5 s? Answer in units of m/s.
B. What is the position at 5 s? Answer in units of m.

Homework Equations

v = v₀ + at

The Attempt at a Solution

For part A, V = -3 + 1(5)
= 2

For part B, V = -15 + 2(5)
= -5

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Both of these answers are wrong, and I'm not sure why...There was another question with this graph that asked to find the position and velocity of the particle at 1 s, and this worked for that, so I'm not sure what to do now...

 

[SteamKing]

The equation v = v0 + at is valid only when a is constant. From the diagram, you can easily see that a is not constant over the range of time.

You have not indicated any equations to determine position as a function of velocity or acceleration.

Are you sure you know how to relate position, velocity, and acceleration?

 

[gneill]

According to the diagram the acceleration at time t=0 is not 1. And the acceleration changes at time t=2. So you'll have to break up the motion into two parts, the first covering the time interval from t=0 to t=2, the second covering the interval from t=2 to t=5.

For part B you're looking for a position, not a velocity. There's another kinematic equation that applies when you want to find the distance given the initial position, velocity, and acceleration.