Distance, Position, Speed and Velocity Problems
1. What is the speed of a train that travels a distance of 480 km in 8.0 h?
2. An ant moves a distance of 39.4 cm in 7.3 s. What is its speed?
3. A goalkeeper for a hockey team has a reaction time of 0.40 s. A puck traveling at 25
m/s bounces off an opposing players pads without slowing down. How far away must this
occur to give the goalkeeper a chance to make a save?
4. A tourist traveling along a straight section of the Trans-Canada Highway late at night
has the car set on cruise control. At 11:30 p.m. he notices a sign that says “Calgary 250
km”. At midnight he notices another sign, which reads “Calgary 190 km”. If the tourist
is located directly east of Calgary on both occasions find:
a. His displacement for the half hour interval stated
b. His velocity
c. His speed
5. What is the velocity of an airplane that experiences a displacement of 580 m [N] in 2.5
s?
6. A car has a velocity of 105 km/h [N]. What is its displacement if it travels at this
velocity for 2.5 h?
7. What velocity is required for a truck moving along the highway to experience a
displacement of 400 m [W] in a time of 20 s? Express your answer in meters per second
and in kilometers per hour.
8. How long would it take a dolphin swimming at 8.0 m/s [E] to travel 208 m [E]?
9. How long does it take for a motorboat traveling at 40 km/h to cross a lake that is 2.0 km
wide?
10. The sun is located a distance of 1.49x1011 m from the Earth. Light travels at 3.00x108
m/s. How much time will elapse between the time a solar flare erupts from the surface
of the Sun and the time it is seen by an astronomer on Earth?
11. Here are some world record times for various track and field events.
a)
b)
c)
Race
100 m
400 m
800 m
Time (s)
9.69
43.18
101.11
Held by:
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 2008
Michael Johnson (United States) 1999
Wilson Kipketer (Denmark) 1997
Calculate the average speed for each of the three runners. Suggest why the average speeds vary as
they do.
12. Viking I, the first spacecraft to land on Mars, traveled 7.00x108 km in 303 d. Calculate its
average speed in kilometers per second
13. How long does it take a girl, riding her bike at 2.50 m/s, to travel 1800 m?
14. How far will a man travel in 15 minutes, driving his car down the highway at 24 m/s?
15. The speed limit on most highways is 100 km/h. If you see something on the road ahead of you as
you are driving, it usually takes 1.0 s to fully apply the brakes. How far will the car travel in that
time, in meters?
16. The speed limit on sub-urban roads is 50 km/h. You are traveling at the speed limit when an
empty paper bag blows onto the road from behind a parked car 5.0 m in front of you. If you
maintain your velocity, how long will it be before you hit it?
17. A marathon runner in training runs 22 km [N] and then 32 km [S]. Assuming the entire run takes
4.2 h, answer the following questions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
What is the runner’s position at the end of the run?
What is the total displacement for the run?
What is the average velocity?
What is the total distance traveled?
What is the average speed?
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
60 km/h
5.4 cm/s
10 m
a) 60 km [W]
b) 120 km/h [W]
c) 120 km/h
5. 2.3x102 m/s [N]
6. 2.6x102 km [N]
7. 20 m/s [W], 72 km/h [W]
8. 26 s
9. 0.050 h, 3.0 min
10. 497 s
11. 10.3 m/s, 9.26 m/s, 7.91 m/s
12. 26.7 km/s
13. 720 s
14. 2.2x104 m
15. 28 m
16. 0.36 s
17.
a)10 km [S]
b) 10 km [S]
c) 2.4 km/h [S]
d) 54 km
e) 13 km/h