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Velocity word problems
1) Polar bears are extremely good swimmers. If a polar bear is swimming with an average of 2.6 m/s, how far will
it have traveled after 120 seconds?
2)
Tree sloths are the slowest moving mammals. On average, their velocity is 0.743 m/s. How long does it take a
tree sloth moving at this velocity to travel 22.3 m?
3) The cheetah, the fastest of land animals, can run a distance of 274 m in 8.65 seconds at its top speed. What is the
cheetah’s top velocity?
4) The maximum posted speed limit on the U.S. Interstate Highway System may be found in rural areas of several
western states. It is 75 MPH or 121 Km/h or 33.6 m/s. what is the distance, in kilometers, traveled by a car
moving continuously at this speed for 3 ½ hours?
5) The fastest supersonic passenger jet is the Concorde. How long would it take the Concorde to travel the 6265 km
between New York City and London, England, assuming that the jet travels at its maximum speed of 2,150 km/h
during the entire trip? Please express your answer in minutes.
6) The fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an ocean liner was made on July 7, 1952. The ship, the S.S. United
States, traveled 4727 km east in 3.4 days or 82.6 hours. What was the average velocity of the ship?
7) Zoe ran across the living room in 3.2 seconds because she was being chased by Stan. Stan ran a little slower, and
it took him 4.8 seconds. If the living room is 10 meters long, what was their average speed?
8) Kizzie is swimming down a river at a speed of 5 meters/second. The river is flowing at a speed of 3
meters/second. What is Kizzie's velocity?
9)
How far will an object travel in 10 seconds if it is moving at a constant speed of 25 meters/second? What is the
speed of a truck that travels 10. km in 10. Minutes?
10) What distance is traveled by a police car that moves at a constant speed of 1.5 km/minute for 5.0 minutes?
11) What distance would be covered in 10. minutes by a train that travels at a constant speed of 500. meters every 10.
seconds?
12) What is the average speed of a commercial jet that travels from New York to Los Angeles (4800 km) in 6.00
hours?
13) Convert your answer in problem #12 to m/s.
14) A car is traveling at an average speed of 70. m/s. How many km would the car travel in 6.5 hours?
CHALLENGE PROBLEMS
* 1.
2.
The electron beam in a typical TV set sweeps out a complete picture in 0.030 seconds, and each picture is
composed of 525 lines. If the width of the screen is 50. cm, what is the speed of the beam horizontally across
the screen?
What is your average speed in each of these cases: a) you run 100. m at a speed of 5.0 m/s and then walk 100.
m at 1.0 m/s , b) you run for 100. s at a speed of 5.0 m/s and then walk for 100. s at a speed of 1.0 m/s?
3. A rabbit and a turtle are practicing for their big race. The rabbit covers a 30. m practice course in 5.0 seconds, the
turtle covers the same distance in 120 seconds. If the actual race is run on a 96 m course, by how many
seconds will the rabbit beat the turtle?
* 4. A tsunami caused by an earthquake occurring in Alaska in 1946 consisted of several huge waves which were found
to travel at the average speed of 790 km/hr. The first of the waves reached Hawaii 4 hours 34 minutes after the earthquake
occurred. From this data, calculate how far the origin of the tsunami was from Hawaii
5. Two cyclist race with nearly uniform speed on a 500. m course. The blue bicycle crosses the finish line 2.0 s ahead
of the red bicycle. If the red bicycle maintained an average speed of 10. m/s, what was the average speed of the blue
bicycle?