Thread: Calculate acceleration with time and distance?

In the 74s after lift-off, the shuttle Challenger travels 36km. Assuming constant acceleration, calculate the acceleration of the shuttle in m/s^2.

G:
t = 74s
d = 36km

Which equation would I use to solve this? None of the equations I have will work, and I'm not sure which kind of velocity to calculate (instantaneous, average, initial, final). Everything I tried so far failed. The correct answer (according to my sheet) is 13m/s^2.

Originally Posted by shadow6

In the 74s after lift-off, the shuttle Challenger travels 36km. Assuming constant acceleration, calculate the acceleration of the shuttle in m/s^2.

G:
t = 74s
d = 36km

Which equation would I use to solve this? None of the equations I have will work, and I'm not sure which kind of velocity to calculate (instantaneous, average, initial, final). Everything I tried so far failed. The correct answer (according to my sheet) is 13m/s^2.

assuming the shuttle started from rest at t = 0 ...



solve for

remember that must be in meters

Thanks for the help, got it right finally.

Though, the second part of the question asks to find the speed of the shuttle in km/h. I did the following.

S = a(t)
S = 13m/s^2(74s)
S = 962m/s
S = 962(.001km)(.0003h)
S = 962(3.33km/h)
S = 3203.46km/h.

The answer on the page however, says 3500km/h. Don't know if this was due to rounding or not, though I doubt that based on the high inaccuracy.

I also tried this.

S = d / t
S = 36km / 74s
S = 0.49km/s
S = 0.49km/(0.0003h)
S = 0.000147km/h

I thought for sure this one would work, but I guess not.

What would be a good equation for calculating the shuttle's speed?