Acceleration Basics
Graphing
Free Fall
Starting from Rest
Starting with Initial Velocity
100
The definition of instantaneous velocity and an example.
What is the speed/velocity at a particular moment? The speedometer in your car reads your instantaneous velocity because it tells your speed at THAT moment.
100
The slope of a position vs. time graph represents this.
What is the velocity?
100
An object is in free fall under this circumstance.
What is the only force acting on the object is gravity?
100
The equation to find how far something has fallen from rest after a given amount of time.
What is d = (1/2)gt2?
100
The equation used to find how fast something is moving after a certain amount of time when it starts with some initial velocity instead of from rest.
What is vf = vi + at (OR vf = vi - gt)?
200
The definition and unit of acceleration.
What is the rate of change of velocity? Or how quickly something speeds up, slows down, or changes direction. Unit: m/s2
200
The acceleration can be determined from the slope of this kind of graph.
What is a velocity vs. time graph?
200
All objects in "free fall" fall with this same constant what? (Give the name and the number to get the points).
Acceleration (or "free fall acceleration") of 9.8 m/s/s (m/s2)
200
The equation to find how fast something is moving after a certain amount of time after falling from rest.
What is vf = gt?
200
The equation used to find how far something has fallen after a certain amount of time after being thrown up or down.
What is d = vit - (1/2)gt2?
300
The equation for acceleration.
What is a = (vf - vi)/t
300
If the acceleration graph for a particular motion is constant and negative, that tells you this about the corresponding velocity graph.
What is the graph will have a constant, negative slope?
300
It is incorrect to say that all objects in free fall fall at the same speed for this reason.
What is the fact that falling objects' speeds are constantly changing? So ONE object does NOT fall with the same speed, let alone all falling objects.
300
A robot probe drops a camera off the rim of a high cliff on Mars, where the free-fall acceleration is 3.7 m/s2. If the camera takes 11 s to hit the ground, how fast is it moving just before it hits the ground?
What is 41 m/s?
300
If a ball is thrown upward with a speed of 20 m/s, its velocity after 3 s will be this. (Use g = 10 m/s/s on this problem for simplicity.)
What is -10 m/s?
400
If an object is accelerating, you know the forces must be this.
What is unbalanced?
400
Sketch the velocity vs. time graph for the following motion: a cart is given a push up the ramp it is on, slowing down as it reaches the top, stops, and then speeds up on its way back down the ramp. Consider UP the ramp the positive direction and consider only the time when the cart is rolling freely.
The velocity is positive at t = 0 s and has a constant negative slope as it passes 0 m/s and goes into the negative region.
400
Identify the action-reaction pair of forces involved when an elephant is in free fall.
What are (1) the Earth pulling down on the elephant and (2) the elephant pulling up on the Earth?
400
A flowerpot is nudged off a windowsill and takes 1.63 seconds to hit the ground. How high is the windowsill?
What is 26 m?
400
A cell phone is tossed vertically upward with an initial velocity of 8.0 m/s. How long will it take to reach its starting point?
What is 1.6 s?
500
You will have 90 seconds to complete this problem. With an average acceleration of 1.2 m/s2, the time it will it take a cyclist to bring a bicycle with an initial speed of 6.5 m/s to a complete stop.
What is 5.4 s?
500
Describe the velocity graph for any object in free fall (consider up the positive direction and down the negative direction).
What is a constant, negative slope because of the constant negative (downward) acceleration due to gravity?
500
Identify all the given information and the unknown in the following problem, but DO NOT worry about solving it. Jason hits a volleyball so that it moves with an initial velocity of 6.0 m/s straight upward. If the volleyball starts from 2.0 m above the floor, how long will it be in the air before it strikes the floor?
What are vi = 6.0 m/s
d = (-)2.0 m
a = g = 9.8 m/s2
t = ?
500
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE at 828 m (the second tallest building, Taipei 101, is 319 m shorter!). How long would it take a freely falling penny to hit the ground if dropped from the top of the Burj Khalifa?
What is 13 seconds?
500
A cell phone is tossed upward with a speed of 8.0 m/s. After 0.80 s, how high is the cell phone?
3.3 m
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