Question

Mai's car accelerates at an average rate of `2.6` `m``/s^2`. How long will it take her car to speed up from `24.6` `m`/`s` to `26.8` `m`/`s`?

Answer 1

0.846 seconds

Explanation:

The acceleration unit, whilst looking a little confusing, means that the car will increase in velocity by 2.6m/s every second hence the `/s^2`.
This means the velocity (speed) is going 2.6, 5.2, 7.8m/s every second. To go from 24.6 to 26.8 is a difference of 2.2 so 2.2/2.6 seconds.

Alternatively use the equation;

`v=u+at`

where v is the final velocity, u is the initial velocity, a is the acceleration and t is the time. You can rearrange this to give you:

`t = (v-u)/a` which will give you the same answer.