A cat walks in a straight line, which we shall call the x-axis, w...

Question

A cat walks in a straight line, which we shall call the x-axis, with the positive direction to the right. As an observant physicist, you make measurements of this cat’s motion and construct a graph of the feline’s velocity as a function of time (Fig. E2.30). (b) What is the cat’s acceleration at t = 3.0 s? At t = 6.0 s? At t = 7.0 s?

Accepted Answer

Hey everyone. So today we're dealing with the problem about velocity versus time graphs. Now we're being asked to determine a lady's acceleration on this based on this time graph from time zero to time 3.5 seconds. Now this lady is moving in a straight line, right? She's moving along the X axis and to the right and positive acts in a positive X direction. So if this was her line right, she would be moving this way towards plus X and this would be minus X I guess. But anyway, to determine acceleration from a velocity versus time graph, we need to recall that acceleration. Right, acceleration can be defined. Oops, acceleration can be defined as the change in time over. We're sorry, change in velocity over change in time. Now, if we look at our graph, well we have velocity in the y axis and time in the X axis, which means if we want change in time over change in X or change in y over change in X. Well, that means that acceleration is just the slope of a velocity time graph. Right? And furthermore, we're moving in a straight line, which means the lady will have a constant acceleration, right? Because the slope is the same for all points. So let's go ahead and get right into it. So we draw our handy dandy triangle right here, just fill it in. So we can see it a little better But from time 0 to time, 3.5 seconds. This means that if we want the change in velocity over change in time is equal to change in velocity over change in time, Which means we go from 0 -1. Meet us for a second, Right? Because we go from zero all the way down to negative five And this will be 3.5 0 seconds which gives us five m per second over 3.5 seconds, which equals 1.4 m per second squared. Oops! Dad went off the page, meters per second squared, so the acceleration of the lady is 1.4 m per second squared or answer choice. Excuse me, sorry or answer choice. C. I hope this helps. And I look forward to seeing you all in the next one.

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