Question

A skateboarder is moving at 1.75 m/s when she starts going up an incline that causes an acceleration of -0.20 m/s2

Answer 1

Answer:

Approximately $7.66\; \rm m$.

Explanation:

Solve this question with a speed-time plot

The skateboarder started with an initial speed of $u = 1.75\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}$ and came to a stop when her speed became $v = 0\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}$. How much time would that take if her acceleration is $a = -0.20\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}$?

$\begin{aligned} t &= \frac{v - u}{a} \\ &= \frac{0\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1} - 1.75\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}}{-0.20\; \rm m \cdot s^{-2}} \approx 8.75\; \rm s\end{aligned}$.

Refer to the speed-time graph in the diagram attached. This diagram shows the velocity-time plot of this skateboarder between the time she reached the incline and the time when she came to a stop. This plot, along with the vertical speed axis and the horizontal time axis, form a triangle. The area of this triangle should be equal to the distance that the skateboarder travelled while she was moving up this incline until she came to a stop. For this particular question, that area is approximately equal to:

$\displaystyle \frac{1}{2} \times 1.75\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1} \times 8.75\; \rm s \approx 7.66\; \rm m$.

In other words, the skateboarder travelled $15.3\; \rm m$ up the slope until she came to a stop.

Solve this question with an SUVAT equation

A more general equation for this kind of motion is:

$\displaystyle x = \frac{1}{2}\, (u + v) \, t = \frac{1}{2}\, (u + v)\cdot \frac{v - u}{a}= \frac{v^2 - u^2}{2\, a}$,

where:

• $u$ and $v$ are the initial and final velocity of the object,
• $a$ is the constant acceleration that changed the velocity of this object from $u$ to $v$, and
• $x$ is the distance that this object travelled while its velocity changed from $u$ to $v$.

For the skateboarder in this question:

$\begin{aligned}x &= \frac{v^2 - u^2}{2\, a}\\ &= \frac{\left(0\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}\right)^2 - \left(1.75\; \rm m \cdot s^{-1}\right)^2}{2\times \left(-0.20\; \rm m \cdot s^{-2}\right)}\approx 7.66\; \rm m \end{aligned}$.