A car accelerates from rest at 2 m/s². Find the distance covered in 10 seconds — Physics problems | PhysLabo
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Distance covered with constant acceleration

Easy 9 grade Mechanics / Motion

A car accelerates uniformly from rest with acceleration $a = 2$ m/s². Find the distance the car travels in time $t = 10$ s.

Given
  • $v_0 = 0$ (starts from rest)
  • $a = 2$ m/s²
  • $t = 10$ s
  • $s = ?$
Hints
Hint 1 / 2
The initial velocity is zero, so the $v_0t$ term vanishes.
Hint 2 / 2
Substitute into $s = at^2/2$: square the time first.
Solution

Distance covered with constant acceleration and initial velocity $v_0 = 0$:

$$s = v_0 t + \frac{at^2}{2} = \frac{at^2}{2}$$

$$s = \frac{2 \cdot 10^2}{2} = \frac{2 \cdot 100}{2} = 100 \text{ m}$$

Answer

$s = 100$ m