CAPA problem - Kinematics in 1 Dimension

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
10 replies · 2K views
ghostanime2001
Messages
256
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



A car accelerates at 2.10 m/s2 along a straight road. It passes two marks that are 29.6 m apart at times t=4.10 s and t=4.90 s. What was the car's velocity at t=0?

I'm assuming the car has constant acceleration of 2.10 m/s2

Given
[tex]\Delta[/tex]x = 29.6 m
a = 2.10 m/s2
vi = ?
[tex]\Delta[/tex]t = ? (I was thinking it might be 0.8 s because of 4.9 - 4.1 s )

The equation I think I should use is:
[tex]x_{f} = x_{i} + v_{i}\Delta t + \frac{1}{2}a(\Delta t)^{2}[/tex]

[tex]x_{f} - x_{i}= v_{i}\Delta t + \frac{1}{2}a(\Delta t)^{2}[/tex]

[tex]\Delta x= v_{i}\Delta t + \frac{1}{2}a(\Delta t)^{2}[/tex]

solving for [tex]v_{i}[/tex] gives the expression:

[tex]\frac{\Delta x - \frac{1}{2}a\Delta t^{2}}{\Delta t} = v_{i}[/tex]

substitute all the numbers:

[tex]\frac{(29.6) - \frac{1}{2}(1.2)\(0.8)^{2}}{((0.8)}[/tex]

[tex]36.52 m/s = v_{i}[/tex]

Am I right or wrong with this answer? Also, I couldn't check to make sure if its right or wrong because I kept on thinking the initial velocity should be zero and i held on to that and kept on asnwering that on CAPA and so as a result, I used up all of my tries :(
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
That vi is the velocity at the first mark, at 4.1 s, but the problem asks v(0) the velocity at t=0. ehild
 
Okay so is it like this then?

[tex]v_{f}=v_{i}+a\Delta t[/tex] from ti=0 to tf=4.1

[tex]36.52=v_{i}+(2.1)(4.1)[/tex]

[tex]-v_{i}=(2.1)(4.1)-36.52[/tex]

[tex]-v_{i}=-27.91[/tex]

[tex]v_{i}=27.91[/tex] m/s

Okay now?
 
Last edited:
ghostanime2001 said:
substitute all the numbers:

[tex]\frac{(29.6) - \frac{1}{2}(1.2)\(0.8)^{2}}{((0.8)}[/tex]

[tex]36.52 m/s = v_{i}[/tex]

(

The acceleration is 2.1 m/s^2. Correct your result.

ehild
 
Yes, and correct the value of (v0), too.

ehild
 
wow.. after so long finally I figured it out :( and I lost all my marks on that one question.
 
how do I know this is the answer?
 
How do you did not know? You knew al the necessary background, all the equations, just to had to plug in the proper data without mistyping them.

ehild
 
It traveled 29.6m in .8 seconds and then you can change that to m/s for the velocity