Name______________________________________________________________Date________Hr_______
Velocity and Acceleration Problems
You must show your work (set-up) and let your calculator do the math. Watch your units!
1. A train moving at a velocity of 15 m/s is accelerated to 24 m/s over a 12 second period.
2. Like the polar bear, the walrus is a fine swimmer, though it does not have the same endurance. For short periods of
time, a walrus can swim with an average speed of 9.7 m/s. How far would a walrus swim at this speed in 204 seconds?
3. The maximum posted speed limit on the U.S. Interstate Highway System may be found in rural areas of several
western states. This maximum speed is 75 mi/h, or 121 km/h. What is the distance, in kilometers, traveled by a car
moving continuously at this speed for 3.3 hours?
4. In 1985, Matt Biondi set a record for the men’s 100 m freestyle event in swimming. It took him 49.17 s to swim the
100.0 m (the length of the pool and back). What was his average speed?
5. The cheetah, the fastest of land animals, can run a distance of 274 m in 8.65 s at its top speed. What is the cheetah’s
top speed?
6. The bird that migrates the farthest is the Arctic tern. Each year, the Arctic tern travels
32 000 km between the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica. Most of the migration takes place within two fourmonth periods each year. Assume an Arctic tern completes the second half of its annual migration distance (16,000 km)
in 122 days. Also assume that during this time the tern flies directly north. If the tern flies the same distance each day,
what is its velocity in kilometers per day?
7. The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the longest single railroad in the world. Starting in Moscow, the tracks stretch 9,354 km
across the Siberian frontier to Vladivostok, at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. If you were to leave Moscow and travel on
the railroad with an average speed of 90.0 km/h, how long would it take for you to reach Vladivostok?
8. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle of the United States became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. She also
set what was at that time the world record for the crossing, with an average speed of 0.725 m/s. Assuming that the
distance Ederle swam was 37,900 km (the shortest distance between England and France), how long did it take her to
swim the Channel?
9. While traveling along a highway a driver slows from 24 m/s to 15 m/s in 12 seconds. What is the automobile’s
acceleration? (Remember that a negative value indicates a slowing down or deceleration.)
10. A parachute on a racing dragster opens and changes the speed of the car from 85 m/s to 45 m/s in a period of 4.5
seconds. What is the acceleration of the dragster?
11. A plastic ball is dropped out an open window from a height of 20.0 m. Neglecting air resistance and using
acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2 ).
a) Calculate the velocity of the ball when it hits the ground.
b. When does the ball hit the ground?
12. Use the velocity-time graph below to calculate the velocity of the object whose motion is plotted on the graph.
a) What is the acceleration between the points on the graph labeled A and B?
b. What is the acceleration between the points on the graph labeled B and C?
c) What is the acceleration between the points on the graph labeled D and E?
d) What is the total distance that the object travels between points B and C?
13. A sudden gust of wind increases the velocity of a sailboat relative to the water surface from 3.0 m/s to 5.5 m/s over a
period of 30.0 seconds. What is the average acceleration of the sailboat?
14. On the surface of Mars, the acceleration due to gravity is 0.379 times as much as that on the sur=face of Earth. A
robot on Mars pushes a rock over a 500.0 cliff.
a) How long does it take the rock to reach the ground below the cliff?
b) How fast is the rock traveling when it reaches the surface?
c) How long would it take the rock to fall the same distance on the surface of the Earth?