Answer:
Acceleration is defined as the ratio between the change in velocity of an object and the time it takes for the object to change the velocity.
In formula, this is written as:
where
vf is the final velocity
vi is the initial velocity
t is the time it takes for the object to accelerate from u to v
Note that acceleration is a vector, so it can also be caused by a change in the direction of the velocity, not only by a change in its magnitude.
1) 9.4 m/s
First of all, we can calculate the work done by the horizontal force, given by
W = Fd
where
F = 34.6 N is the magnitude of the force
d = 12.9 m is the displacement of the cart
Solving ,
W = (34.6 N)(12.9 m) = 446.3 J
According to the work-energy theorem, this is also equal to the kinetic energy gained by the cart:
Since the cart was initially at rest, , so
(1)
where
m is the of the cart
v is the final speed
The mass of the cart can be found starting from its weight, :
So solving eq.(1) for v, we find the final speed of the cart:
2)
The work done on the train is given by
W = Fd
where
F is the magnitude of the force
d is the displacement of the train
In this problem,
So the work done is
3)
According to the work-energy theorem, the change in kinetic energy of the train is equal to the work done on it:
where
W is the work done
is the change in kinetic energy
Therefore, the change in kinetic energy is
4) 37.2 m/s
According to the work-energy theorem,
where
is the final kinetic energy of the train
is the initial kinetic energy of the train, which is zero since the train started from rest
Re-writing the equation,
where
m = 36300 kg is the mass of the train
v is the final speed of the train
Solving for v, we find