Calculating Acceleration of a Moving Cart

What is the acceleration of a cart moving along a track at a velocity of 3.5 cm/s?

Answer:

The acceleration of the cart can be calculated by using the formula:

acceleration = (final velocity - initial velocity) / time

Given that the cart's initial velocity is 3.5 cm/s, final velocity is 8.2 cm/s, and it takes 1.5 seconds to reach 8.2 cm/s, the calculation is as follows:

acceleration = (8.2 - 3.5) / 1.5 = 3.1 m/s²

Therefore, the acceleration of the cart is 3.1 m/s².

Explanation:

Acceleration, in physics, is the rate of change of velocity of an object with respect to time. Anytime an object's velocity is changing, the object is said to be accelerating. In this scenario, we are given the initial velocity, final velocity, and time taken for the cart to reach the final velocity.

By utilizing the formula for acceleration and substituting the given values into the equation, we can determine the acceleration of the cart. The difference between the final and initial velocity divided by the time taken gives us the acceleration of the cart, which in this case is 3.1 m/s².

Therefore, the acceleration of the cart moving along a track at a velocity of 3.5 cm/s and increasing to 8.2 cm/s over 1.5 seconds is calculated to be 3.1 m/s².