Question

Suppose you increase your walking speed from 1 m/s to 4 m/s in a period of 2 s. What is your acceleration? Dont forget your units.

Answer 1

The acceleration is given by the change in velocity over the change in time:

$a=\frac{\Delta V}{\Delta t}=\frac{V_f-V_i}{t_f-t_i}$

If the initial velocity is 1 m/s, the final velocity is 4 m/s and the interval of time is 2 seconds, we have:

$\begin{gathered} a=\frac{4-1}{2}\\ \\ a=\frac{3}{2}\\ \\ a=1.5\text{ m/s^^b2} \end{gathered}$

Therefore the acceleration is equal to 1.5 m/s².