Question

An airplane accelerates from a speed of 88m/s to a speed of 132 m/s during a 15 second time interval. How far did the airplane travel during the time interval?

Answer 1

Answer:

$1650\:\mathrm{m}$

Explanation:

We can use the following kinematics equations to solve this problem:

$v_f=v_i+at,\\{v_f}^2={v_i}^2+2a\Delta x$.

Using the first one to solve for acceleration:

$132=88+a(15),\\15a=44,\\a=\frac{44}{15}=2.9\bar{3}\:\mathrm{m/s^2}$.

Now we can use the second equation to solve for the distance travelled by the airplane:

$132^2=88^2+2\cdot2.9\bar{3}\cdot \Delta x,\\\Delta x= \frac{9680}{2\cdot2.9\bar{3}},\\\Delta x =\fbox{ 1650\:\mathrm{m} }$(three significant figures).