Question

How do you calculate the distance traveled if a car goes from zero to sixty miles per hour?

Answer 1

To calculate the distance traveled by a car when it accelerates from zero to sixty miles per hour (mph), you need to consider the time taken to reach that speed and the acceleration of the car.

Assuming the car accelerates uniformly, you can use the following formula to calculate the distance:

$d=\frac{v_f^2-v_i^2}{2a}$

where:

• $d$ is the distance traveled
• $v_f$ is the final velocity (60 mph)
• $v_i$ is the initial velocity (0 mph)
• $a$ is the acceleration

First, you need to convert the velocities from miles per hour to feet per second (fps) because the formula requires consistent units.

1 mph is approximately equal to 1.47 fps, so:

• $v_f=60\text{mph}\times 1.47\text{fps/mph}=88\text{fps}$
• vi=0 mph×1.47 fps/mph=0 fpsv_i = 0 , ext{mph} imes 1.47 , ext{fps/mph} = 0 , ext{fps}vi​=0mph×1.47fps/mph=0<s