Acceleration
Name:
Car A speeds up from rest at a constant rate of 2 m/s2 for 10 seconds.
1. What does “2 m/s2” mean? What exactly does it tell us about how the car’s motion is changing?
2. Fill in Car A’s speed after each second.
Time
0s
Speed
0 m/s
1s
2s
3s
4s
5s
6s
7s
8s
9s
10 s
Car B speeds up at twice the rate, 4 m/s2.
3. What does “4 m/s2” mean? What exactly does it tell us about how the car’s motion is changing?
4. Fill in Car B’s speed after each second.
Time
0s
Speed
0 m/s
1s
2s
3s
4s
5s
6s
7s
8s
9s
10 s
5. How long did it take Car B to reach a speed of 20 m/s compared to Car A? Explain why this makes sense
based on their rates of acceleration.
Car C slows down from a speed of 20 m/s at a rate of 2 m/s2.
6. What exactly does this tell us about how the car’s motion is changing?
7. Fill in Car C’s speed after each second until it comes to rest.
Time
0s
Speed
20 m/s
1s
2s
3s
4s
5s
6s
7s
8s
9s
10 s
7s
8s
9s
10 s
Car D slows down from a speed of 20 m/s at twice the rate, 4 m/s2.
8. What exactly does this tell us about how the car’s motion is changing?
9. Fill in Car D’s speed after each second.
Time
0s
Speed
20 m/s
1s
2s
3s
4s
5s
6s
10. How long did it take Car C to come to rest compared to Car D? Explain why this makes sense based on
their rates of acceleration.
Acceleration as a Vector
1. The car below is speeding up from rest at a constant rate of 2 m/s2. After 1 second, the car is of course
going 2 m/s. The velocity vector at that moment is drawn and labelled below: that is, the length of the
arrow represents 2 m/s of speed and the direction the arrow points is the direction it is moving. Draw
and label the car’s velocity vector for the next 2 seconds, correctly showing how the car speeds up.
0 m/s
t = 0 sec
2 m/s
t = 1 sec
t = 2 sec
t = 3 sec
2. Draw how much “arrow” you had to add after each second:
3. Is the “direction of change” to the right or to the left in this case?
4. If you had to draw this car’s acceleration (not velocity)
vector, what do you think it would look like?
5. The car below is slowing down from a speed of 8 m/s at a constant rate of 2 m/s2. After 1 second, the
car is of course going 6 m/s. The velocity vector at that moment is drawn and labelled below. Draw and
label the velocity vector for the next 2 seconds, correctly showing how the car slows down. To help you
visualize what’s going on, the light dotted arrow represents the original 8 m/s of velocity - just for
comparison.
8 m/s
t = 0 sec
6 m/s
t = 1 sec
t = 2 sec
t = 3 sec
6. Draw how much “arrow” you had to subtract after each second:
7. Is the “direction of change” to the right or to the left in this case?
8. If you had to draw this car’s acceleration (not velocity)
vector, what do you think it would look like?
9. If a car is experiencing a constant acceleration, does that mean it is also moving with a constant
velocity? Explain your answer.
10. If a car is moving with a constant velocity, must the forces be balanced or unbalanced on that
car? Explain.
11. If a car is moving with a constant acceleration, must the forces be balanced or unbalanced on that car?
Explain.
12. Consider the following cars shown with their velocity and acceleration vectors. Determine whether
these objects are speeding up or slowing down.
a
v
v
a
a
v
v
a
13. The following car is speeding up from a speed of 2 m/s at a constant rate of 2 m/s2. Draw its velocity
and acceleration vectors for the next 3 seconds.
a = 2 m/s2
v = 2 m/s
14. The following car is slowing down from a speed of 8 m/s at a constant rate of 2 m/s2. Draw its velocity
and acceleration vectors for the next 3 seconds.
a = 2 m/s2
v = 8 m/s
15. An object tossed up into the air experiences a constant acceleration due to the constant force of
gravity. Draw the velocity vector on the left of the object and the acceleration vector on the right.
Dropped from rest
Tossed up, comes to rest at the top
Tossed up, falls back down