Calculating Average Acceleration for a Slow, Level Turn

[aishax]

Homework Statement

An airplane flying at a constant speed of 1000 km/h executes a slow, level turn that changes its direction from west to east. If the turn takes 80 s, calculate the plane's average acceleration.

Homework Equations

average acceleration = average velocity/time

The Attempt at a Solution

Its a simple question, but I can't seem to understand how to figure out the average velocity! Can someone please explain it to me? Any help is greatly appreciated :)

 

[lvslugger36]

Average Acceleration = Change in velocity / time. Let's first convert 1000km/hour to m/s. The answer to that is 277.7 meters/second. Now, we'll define direction (east is positive, west negative). So after it makes the turn, it's velocity is +277.7 m/s. Before it makes the turn, it's velocity is going west, so it's -277.7 m/s. Now, vf - vi = 277.7 - (-277.7) = 555.55 m/s. Now we divide by the time which is 80 seconds to compute the acceleration which is 6.94 m/s^2 to the east.

 

[aishax]

Very clear explanation! Thanks for your help, lvslugger36 :)