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Mission KC7 Average Acceleration Calculations

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Hold down the T key for 3 seconds to activate the audio accessibility mode, at which point you can click the K key to pause and resume audio. Useful for the Check Your Understanding and See Answers.

 The Question

Upon landing, a rightward-moving airplane accelerates from 65 m/s to 10 m/s in 4.9 s. Determine the average acceleration of the airplane in m/s/s. Enter a numerical answer (no units) accurate ... .
 
(Note: Numbers are randomly generated and may differ from those shown here.)

 Formula Fix

Acceleration (a) is the rate of change in an object's velocity. It is determined from knowledge of a velocity change (Δv) and the change in time (Δt) over which the velocity changes.
 
a = Δvelocity / Δtime = Δv / Δt

 Don't be Fooled

The numerator in the acceleration equation (see Formula Fix section) is the change in velocity. A changein any value is found by subtracting the initial value from the final value. In this question, such a change will be negative. But don't be fooled! The question asks you to enter the magnitude of the acceleration; ignore + and - signs which are indicators of a direction.

 A Very Fine Detail

The Minds On Physics program calculates answers accurate to several decimal places. Your answer does not need to be that precise. The program will allow you to have a 1% deviation from the right answer without being wrong. This means you should enter your answer to at least the second decimal place.

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