Constant Acceleration

 

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The blue ball moves with constant acceleration across the floor, as viewed from above. The distance grid is in cm, and the times are shown in seconds. Can you determine the acceleration of the ball?

Hints

  1. At a particular time, find the slope of the distance versus time graph.  
  2. How does this slope compare with the velocity at that time?  Note that it is continually increasing.
  3. Find the slope of the velocity versus time graph.  
  4. What is the acceleration of the ball?

Reference

See Serway and Beichner, Physics For Scientists and Engineers 5th Edition, Example 2.5

Illustration written by Chuck Niederriter