Question

A space vehicle deploys its re–entry parachute when it's traveling at a vertical velocity of –150 meters/second (negative because the parachute is going down.) It comes to rest at 0 meters/second after 30 seconds. What's the average acceleration of the shuttle during this time span?

Answer 1

Answer:

$a=5m/s^2$

Explanation:

Aceleration is a change on the velocity of the object in a given time.

For this case: the initial velocity is

$v_{1}=150m/s$

and the final velocity is :

$v_{2}=0 m/s$

so, the change in velocity is:

$\Delta v =v_{2}-v_{1}=0m/s - (-150m/s) =  150 m/s$

and the change in time , according to the problem:

$\Delta t=30s$

So, the aceleration is:

$a=\frac{\Delta v}{\Delta t} = \frac{150m/s}{30s} = 5m/s^2$