Average Speed Homework: Answer Check

AI Thread Summary
To find the average speed, the total distance covered must be calculated first. Walking for 1 minute at 1.5 m/s results in a distance of 90 meters, and walking for 1 minute at 4 m/s results in 240 meters, totaling 330 meters. The total time is 2 minutes or 120 seconds. The average speed is then calculated as total distance divided by total time, resulting in an average speed of 2.75 m/s, not 0.0459 m/s. The initial calculation of average speed was incorrect due to a misunderstanding of how to combine speeds and distances.
joe215
Messages
25
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


You walk for 1 min. at a speed of 1.5 m/s and then for 1 min at 4 m/s in a straight line. What is your average speed?


The Attempt at a Solution



(1.5 m/s + 4 m/s) / 2= 2.75 m/s

Am I right? This is a very simple problem but I just want to double check myself.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You would have to convert the minutes to seconds, so convert the 2 minutes into seconds and you get 120 seconds.

Then you divide 5.5m/s by 120 s and get 0.0459 m/s
 
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top