Practice Acceleration in Physics

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

The rate at which an object's velocity changes over time, measured in metres per second squared (m/sΒ²).

How quickly your speed (or direction) is changing. The 'push back' you feel when a car speeds up.

Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.

Example 1

challenge
A drag racer accelerates uniformly from rest and covers 400β€…β€Šm400\;\text{m} in 8.0β€…β€Šs8.0\;\text{s}. Find (a) the acceleration and (b) the top speed.

Example 2

easy
A car accelerates from 10Β m/s10 \text{ m/s} to 30Β m/s30 \text{ m/s} in 5Β s5 \text{ s}. What is the acceleration?

Example 3

easy
An object near Earth's surface is in free fall. What is its acceleration?

Example 4

hard
A car accelerates from rest at a1=3β€…β€Šm/s2a_1=3\;\text{m/s}^2 for 4β€…β€Šs4\;\text{s}, then at a2=2β€…β€Šm/s2a_2=2\;\text{m/s}^2 for 6β€…β€Šs6\;\text{s}. Find its final velocity and total distance traveled.

Example 5

medium
A roller coaster speeds up uniformly from 5β€…β€Šm/s5\;\text{m/s} to 25β€…β€Šm/s25\;\text{m/s} over 40β€…β€Šm40\;\text{m}. Find the acceleration.

Example 6

medium
An object starts from rest and accelerates at 3Β m/s23 \text{ m/s}^2 for 8Β s8 \text{ s}. What is the final velocity and distance traveled?

Example 7

medium
A cyclist accelerates uniformly from 4Β m/s4 \text{ m/s} to 12Β m/s12 \text{ m/s} over 8Β seconds8 \text{ seconds}. (a) What is the acceleration? (b) How far does the cyclist travel during this time?

Example 8

easy
Define acceleration in one sentence and state its SI units.

Example 9

hard
An elevator accelerates upward at 1.5β€…β€Šm/s21.5\;\text{m/s}^2. A passenger of mass 70β€…β€Škg70\;\text{kg} stands on a bathroom scale. What reading does the scale show? (Use g=9.8β€…β€Šm/s2g = 9.8\;\text{m/s}^2.)

Example 10

easy
An object's velocity is zero but its acceleration is nonzero. Give one physical example.

Example 11

medium
From rest at a=6a=6 m/s2^2, find the distance after 22 s.

Example 12

easy
A car cruises at a steady 30β€…β€Šm/s30\;\text{m/s} down a straight highway. What is its acceleration?

Example 13

easy
An object's acceleration is constant at βˆ’3β€…β€Šm/s2-3\;\text{m/s}^2 while moving at +12β€…β€Šm/s+12\;\text{m/s}. Find the velocity 2 s later.

Example 14

medium
A car accelerates uniformly from 55 m/s to 2525 m/s in 44 s. Find the distance covered.

Example 15

medium
A car at 88 m/s accelerates at 22 m/s2^2 for 55 s. Find its final velocity.

Example 16

medium
A bike at 10β€…β€Šm/s10\;\text{m/s} accelerates at 1.5β€…β€Šm/s21.5\;\text{m/s}^2 for 6β€…β€Šs6\;\text{s}. Find the distance traveled.

Example 17

hard
Two sprinters start side-by-side. Sprinter A accelerates from rest at 2β€…β€Šm/s22\;\text{m/s}^2; sprinter B starts 1.5β€…β€Šs1.5\;\text{s} later from rest at 3β€…β€Šm/s23\;\text{m/s}^2. When does B catch A?

Example 18

easy
A car slows from 3030 m/s to 1010 m/s in 55 s. Find its acceleration.

Example 19

challenge
An object moves in a circle of radius 2β€…β€Šm2\;\text{m} at a constant speed of 4β€…β€Šm/s4\;\text{m/s}. Find its acceleration.

Example 20

medium
On a velocity-time graph, a straight line rises from 4β€…β€Šm/s4\;\text{m/s} at t=0t=0 to 14β€…β€Šm/s14\;\text{m/s} at t=5β€…β€Šst=5\;\text{s}. Find the acceleration and the distance covered.