SPH 3

BIG 5 Uniform Acceleration Equations & Free Falling motion

Table 1: The five equations

Equation

Name:

Variable not found in

equation?

Part II: Solving a problem

A motorcycle merges onto a highway traveling at 10 m/s [E], and increases its velocity to 30
m/s [E] with a constant acceleration of 1.25 m/s2 along the straight road.
a) How much time does this take?
b) How far does the motorcycle travel in this time?
Part III: Free Fall vertical motion problems. Free falling motion is a 1D motion under the
influence of gravity only!! This means that in physics a Free Falling Motion (FFM) is any vertical
motion (up or down!!) under the influence of gravity only. The acceleration due to gravity near
the surface of Earth is 9.8 m/s2.
The five UAM equations can be used to solve free fall/vertical acceleration problems. Instead of
objects traveling east/west/north/south, they travel up and down.
Part IV: Practice (remember: Read, Draw Diagram, State Frame of Reference,
understand what is given; explicit information and implicit information, understand
what you are required to find in terms of kinematics variables, acknowledge the
right number of significant digits and proper units to use, identify the proper
equation(s) to be used, rearrange, perform unit analysis, solve, use common sense
to see if your answer make sense, report the final answer with proper variable,
direction, significant digits, units)
1. A rally car accelerates from 10.0 m/s [N] to 58 m/s [N] in 8.0 seconds as it moves along a
straight road. Given that the acceleration is constant, what is the acceleration of the car? (6.0
m/s2 [N])
2. A bus traveling along a straight road accelerates at 2.0 m/s 2 [S], for 4.0 seconds, covering a
distance of 44 meters. After the 4.0 seconds what velocity is the bus traveling at? (15 m/s [S])
3. A rowing boat crosses the finish line at 12 m/s [N] and carries on in a straight line. If it
immediately decelerates at 4.0 m/s2[N] until it comes to rest, how far past the finish line will
the rowing boat come to a stop?
(18 m)
4. During the middle of an 8.0 x 102 meter race an athlete running at 6.8 m/s [W] constantly
accelerates, along part of the straight, to 8.0 m/s [W] in order to get in a better position for the
final lap. Given this took 2.0 seconds, what was the athletes displacement in this time? (15 m
[W])
5. A train leaves a station from rest and travels west along a straight track. If after 20.0
seconds the train is 5.0 x 102 metres from the station, what is the acceleration of the train?
(2.5 m/s2 [W])
6. A lift at the ground floor rises vertically from rest with constant a acceleration of 0.60 m/s 2
[up]. If it passes the first floor at 1.8 m/s [up] how high is the first floor? (2.7 m)

7. A stone is thrown vertically upward with a speed of 12.0 m/s from the edge of a cliff 70.0 m
high (a) How much later does it reach the bottom of the cliff? (b) What is its velocity just before
hitting? (c) What total distance did it travel? (5.00 s, -38.0 m/s, 84.0m)