Andy is waiting at the signal. As soon as the light turns green, he accelerates his car at a uniform rate of 8.00 meters/second2. What is the displacement of Andy’s car after 30.0 seconds?
Answer:
7200 m
Explanation:
This problem is an example of an uniformly accelerated motion, in which the acceleration remains constant. As such, the formula for the displacement is:
D(t) = D₀ + v₀t + 0.5at²
Where D₀ is the initial displacement, v₀ is the initial velocity (in this case it's 0 m/s), a is the aceleration (8 m/s²) and t is the time, in seconds.
Using a t=30.0 s, we're left with:
D(t) = 0 m + 0 m/s 30.0 s + 0.5 8.00 m/s² (30.0 s)²
D(t) = 0.5 8.00 m/s² (30.0 s)²
D(t) = 7200 m