Uniform Acceleration Calculations (GCSE Physics)
Uniform Acceleration Calculations
Practice Question
Question: A hamster in it’s ball starts from rest and accelerates to 3m/s in 6 seconds. The acceleration of the hamster is uniform.
(a) What distance has the hamster travelled?
(b) What was the acceleration?
Part A
1. Write out the appropriate formula.
In this question, we have been given a value for speed and time. Now we can use this to find a value for distance.
Speed = distance / time
Distance = speed x time
2. Substitute in the numbers.
Distance = 3 x 6
Distance = 18 metres
Part B
1. Write out the appropriate formula.
In this case, we can use the speed, distance and time. We want to find the acceleration, so the following equation is appropriate. We need to rearrange the equation.
v² − u² = 2 a s
v² − u² / 2 s= a
2. Find the numbers.
Now that we have our rearranged equation, we need to write out the values for each symbol.
s = 18 m
u = 0 m/s
v = 3 m/s
a = ?
t = 6 s
3. Substitute in the numbers.
Now that we have our equation, we can put in our numbers.
v² − u² / 2 s= a
32 – 02 / 2 x 18 = a
9 / 36 = a
a = 0.25 m/s²
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