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Acceleration Sample Problems

1. A car’s velocity increases from rest to 14 m/s, E, in 3.5 sec. What is its
acceleration? What is its acceleration if next it slows down to 7 m/s, E, in 2
sec?

2. A mass is attached to a string and then dropped. What is its velocity after
5 sec?

3. A car accelerates from 6 m/s, W, to 20 m/s, W, over a distance of 50 m.

What is its rate of acceleration?

4. A ball rolls off a horizontal roof 5 m above the ground. How long does it
take to hit the ground?

5. A car is moving at 16.67 m/s when it begins to slow at the rate of 1.5m/s2.
How long does it take for it to go 70 m?

6. At the instant a traffic light turns green, a waiting car takes off with a
uniform acceleration rate of 8 m/s2. At exactly the same instant, another
car, traveling at a constant rate of 20 m/s, passes the first car in another
lane. How long does it take the first car to overtake the second? How far
does the first car travel before overtaking the second? How fast is the first
car traveling at the moment it overtakes the second car?
7. Using data collected in an experiment, a student determined the speed of
his object at each time interval. Ignore any acceleration due to a change in
direction. Draw your graph with connected data points (not best-fit line!).

(Time in sec, speed in m/s)

• (0, 0)
• (1, 2)
• (2, 2)
• (3,5)
• (4, 1)
a) During which time interval did the object move at constant speed?
b) When was the object’s rate of acceleration the greatest?
c) What was the object’s rate of acceleration between 3 and 4
seconds?
d) What was his displacement between 3 and 4 sec?

8. A car initially traveling at 20 m/s puts on its brakes and slows to 10 m/s in
5 s. What distance did it travel over this braking interval?

9. A girl stands 2 m above the ground and throws a ball into the air with an
upward velocity of +5 m/s. How long does it take the ball to reach its
apex? How high above the ground is the apex? How long does it take the
ball to hit the ground?
10. Velocity Review Problem: A girl can row a boat at a speed of 5 km/h in still
water. The girl heads across a river that is 25 km wide. What is the boat's
velocity in m/s? How long will it take her to cross the river? Ans: 1.39 m/s,
across the river; 18,000 sec

11. If a ball is dropped and attains a velocity of 29.31 m/s in a time interval of
3 sec on another planet, what is the acceleration of gravity on this planet?
Ans: 9.77 m/2, down

12. A large rock is dropped from a bridge into the river below. If the time
required for it to drop is 1.7 sec, with what speed does it hit the water?
Ans: 16.66 m/s

13. A runner accelerates from rest at a rate of 1.40 m/s2 over a time interval of
8 sec. What is his final velocity? How far did he travel? Ans: 11.2 m/s,
down the track; 44.8 m

14. A car traveling at 4 m/s, south accelerates at 5 m/s2 over a displacement

of 114 m, south. What is his final velocity? Ans: 34 m/s, south

15. A woman on a motorcycle moving uniformly at a rate of 60 m/s passes a

truck at rest. At the instant the motorcycle passes the truck, the truck
begins to accelerate at the rate of 4 m/s2. How long does it take the truck
to catch up to the motorcycle? How far has the motorcycle traveled? What
is the truck's speed at this point? Ans: 30 sec; 1800 m; 120 m/s
16. A mother pushes a baby stroller starting at a speed of 1.50 m/s and
accelerates uniformly over a distance of 4.75 m. She attains a velocity of
+2.18 m/s. What is the acceleration of the stroller? How long did it take for
the stroller to reach this velocity? Ans: +0.26 m/s2; 2.62 s

17. Nathan accelerates his skateboard uniformly along a straight path from
rest to 12.5 m/s in 2.5 s. What is Nathan's acceleration? What is Nathan's
displacement during this time interval? What is Nathan's average velocity
during this time interval? Ans: +5.0 m/s2; +16 m; +6.4 m/s

18. Identify the time interval(s) during which the velocity of the object shown
below is constant. Identify the time interval(s) during which the
acceleration of the object is constant. Find the value for the average
velocity of the object during each time interval in which the object is
accelerating. Find the value for the acceleration of the object during each
time interval in which the object is accelerating. Identify the interval(s) that
the object has zero velocity. Identify the interval(s) when the acceleration
of the object is zero. Identify the interval(s) when the object has negative
acceleration. What is the displacement of the object during interval B.
Ignore acceleration associated with a change in direction?