Average Speed and Acceleration Practice Problems
a = acceleration
t -= time
r = speed/rate
d = distance
vi = initial velocity
vf = final velocity
𝑑 = 𝑟𝑡
𝑟=
𝑡=
𝑑
𝑡
𝑎=
𝑡=
𝑣𝑓− 𝑣𝑖
𝑡
𝑣𝑓− 𝑣𝑖
𝑎
𝑑
𝑟
Complete the word problems below using the formulas provided. Please show your work in the area provided.
1.
A plane travels from Pittsburgh to Cleveland in 2 hours. It maintains an average speed of 100 miles per
hour. How far apart are these cities?
2. A car traveling 60 miles per hour needs to go 350 miles. How long will it take to reach her destination?
3. A dog ran 10 miles home. It took him 50 minutes to get there. How fast was he running? (Have your answer
in miles per hour) HINT: 50 minutes = 0.83 hours
4. A marathon runner completes a 12.1 mile race in 1.2 hours. How fast did he run?
5. A train traveling 50 miles per hour leaves the station in Detroit and travels 300 miles to Boston. How long
did it take?
6. What is the average speed of a car that traveled 300 miles in 5.5 hours?
7. How much time would it take for the sound of thunder to travel 1,500 meters if sound travels at a speed of
330meters per second?
8. How much time would it take for an airplane to reach its destination if it traveled at an average speed of 790
kilometers per hour for a distance of 4,700 kilometers?
9. A snail can move approximately 0.30 meters per minute. How many meters can the snail cover in 15
minutes?
10. Calculate the average speed of a car in km/h of a car stuck in traffic that drives 12 kilometers in 2 hours.
11. While drag racing out of our school parking lot, I time myself at a speed of 40 meters per second seven
seconds after starting. What was my acceleration during this time?
12. If I were to drop a ball out of my car while I was traveling at a velocity of 25 m/s, and it underwent a
deceleration of 2.0 m/s/s while rolling to a stop, how long would it take for it to stop?
13. A roller coaster car rapidly picks up speed as it rolls down a slope. As it starts down the slope, its speed is 4
m/s. But 3 seconds later, at the bottom of the slope, its speed is 22 m/s. What is its average acceleration?
14. A car advertisement states that a certain car can accelerate from rest to 70 km/s in 15 seconds. Find the
car’s average acceleration.
15. You are traveling in a car that is moving at a velocity of 20 m/s. Suddenly, a car 10 meters in front of you
slams on it’s brakes. At that moment, you also slam on your brakes and slow to 5 m/s. Calculate the
acceleration if it took 2 seconds to slow your car down.
16. A ball is dropped from the top of a building. After 2 seconds it’s velocity is measured to be 19.6 m/s.
Calculate the acceleration for the dropped ball.
17. Josh rolled a bowling ball down a lane in 2.5 s. The ball traveled at a constant acceleration of 1.8 m/s2 down
the lane and was traveling at a speed of 7.6 m/s by the time it reached the pins at the end of the lane. How
fast was the ball going when it left Tim’s hand?
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 − (𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 × 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒)
𝑉𝑖 = 𝑉𝑓 − (𝑎𝑡)