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How do you find the initial velocity and convert units given time, final velocity, and acceleration in a motion problem?
Your old car has an acceleration of 2 m/s2. If you travel for 10 seconds and reach a speed of 80 mph, then what was your initial speed?
Summary
- mph- miles per hour
- vf- final velocity
- t- time
- s- seconds
- a- acceleration
- m- meters

Notes
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- It's a good idea to write down the variables that you know in your problem
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- vf- final velocity
- mph- miles per hour
- a- acceleration
- m- meters, s- seconds
- t- time
- vi- initial velocity
-
- Think about the variables in your problem and then figure out what equation contains those variables
-
- vi- initial velocity
- vf- final velocity
- a- acceleration
- t- time
-
- vi- initial velocity
- vf- final velocity
- a- acceleration
- t- time
-
- Apply some algebra to isolate for initial velocity in the equation
-
- vi- initial velocity
- vf- final velocity
- a- acceleration
- t- time
-
- mph- miles per hour
- m/s- meters per second
-
- mph- miles per hour
- m/s- meters per second
-
- Last step, plug in the variables into the equation for initial velocity
-
- vi- initial velocity
- m- meters
- s- seconds
-
- vi- initial velocity
- m- meters
- s- seconds
-
- mph- miles per hour
- m/s- meters per second
-
- mph- miles per hour
- m/s- meters per second