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How do you find the displacement given time, a start from rest, and acceleration in a motion problem?

How much ground will a cheetah cover if it starts at rest and accelerates at a rate of 4 m/s2 for 10 seconds?

Summary

  1. m- meters
  2. s- seconds
  3. a- acceleration
  4. t- time
  5. d- displacement

Notes

    1. Distance is not always equal to the length of the displacement vector!
    1. It's a good idea to write down the variables that you know in your problem
    1. a- acceleration
    2. m- meters, s- seconds
    3. t- time
    4. vi- initial velocity
    5. d- displacement
    1. Think about the variables in your problem and then figure out what equation contains those variables
    1. vi- initial velocity
    2. a- acceleration
    3. t- time
    4. d- displacement
    1. vi- initial velocity
    2. a- acceleration
    3. t- time
    4. d- displacement
    1. Do some algebra to simplify the equation
    1. vi- initial velocity
    2. The initial velocity is zero if you start at rest
    3. d- displacement
    4. t- time
    5. a- acceleration
    1. d- displacement
    2. a- acceleration
    3. t- time
    1. Last step, plug in the variables into the equation for displacement
    1. d- displacement
    2. m-meters
    3. s- seconds
    1. d- displacement
    2. m-meters