Variable Acceleration in 1D (AQA AS Maths: Mechanics): Exam Questions

A car is travelling along a straight horizontal motorway and passes a junction at time seconds. The car’s displacement, s metres, from the junction is then modelled by the equation

(i) Find the displacement of the car from the junction after 3 seconds.

(ii) Find the time, other than at , that the model shows the car passing the same junction.

(i) Find an expression for the velocity, of the car at time t seconds.

(ii) Find the time, other than at , that the model shows the car is instantaneously stationary.

A particle moving along a straight line has velocity , at time t seconds, and its motion is described the equation

v = t² − 4t + 4           

(i) Write down the initial velocity of the particle.

(ii) Find the time at which the particle is instantaneously stationary.

Show that the acceleration of the particle is negative for the first 2 seconds of its motion.

An athlete training for the 100 m sprint is aiming to run according to the model

 s = 0.4t² + 3.5t

where s m is their displacement from the starting point at time t seconds.

Find, according to the model, the time it should take the athlete to complete the 100 m sprint, giving your answer to one decimal place.

Show that the acceleration of the athlete should be constant, if they are to sprint the 100 m according to the model.

A go kart manufacturer is testing out a new model on a straight horizontal road.

Starting from rest, the velocity of the go kart is modelled by the equation

v = t      

where is the velocity at time t seconds.

Find the maximum velocity of the go kart and the time at which this occurs. Justify that this is a maximum.

The go kart does not move backwards at any point during the test. Find the time it takes to complete the test.

A home-made rocket is launched from rest at ground level with time .

The acceleration of the rocket, measured in metres per square second, is modelled by the equation

(i) Write down the acceleration of the rocket at launch.

(ii) Find the acceleration of the rocket after 9 seconds.

(i) Find an expression for the velocity of the rocket at time t.

(ii) Find an expression for the displacement of the rocket at time  t.

A particle moving along a horizontal path has acceleration  at time  seconds modelled by the equation

The particle has a velocity of at time . Find an expression for the velocity of the particle at time .

(i) Find the time at which the velocity of the particle is zero.

(ii) Hence write down the times between which the particle has a positive velocity.

In a cheese-rolling competition, a cylindrical block of cheese is rolled down a hill and its acceleration, , is modelled by the equation.

where t is the time in seconds. The block of cheese reaches the bottom of the hill after 20 seconds.

 Find the velocity of the block of cheese when it reaches the bottom of the hill.

Show that the distance down the hill, as travelled by the block of cheese, is 330 m to two significant figures.

A high-speed train has a maximum acceleration of  which, from rest, takes 20 seconds to reach.

One such train leaves a station at  seconds and its displacement, , from the station is modelled using the equation

 where m is a constant.

 Find an expression for the velocity of the high-speed train for .

(i) Find an expression for the acceleration of the high-speed train for .

(ii) Thus find the value of the constant m, assuming that the train reaches its maximum acceleration in the quickest time possible.

Find the minimum distance of track needed in order for the high-speed train to reach its maximum acceleration.

The velocity, v m s⁻¹ , of a particle moving in a straight line at time t seconds is given by   for

Sketch a velocity-time graph for the motion of the particle during the interval

Use integration to show that the total distance travelled by the particle is .

A car is travelling along a straight horizontal motorway and passes under a bridge at time seconds. The car’s displacement, s metres, from the bridge is then modelled by the equation 

(i) Find the displacement of the car from the bridge after 5 seconds.

(ii) Find the time at which the model indicates the car passes under the bridge again.

(i) Find an expression for the velocity, of the car at time t seconds. 

(ii) Find the time(s) at which the car is instantaneously stationary.

A particle moving along a straight line has velocity, , at time t seconds according to the equation 

Find the times at which the particle is instantaneously stationary.

Find the distance travelled by the particle during the time it has negative velocity.

An athlete training for the 200 m sprint is aiming to run according to the model 

where s m is the displacement from the starting point at time t seconds.

Find the time the athlete should be expected to finish the 200 m sprint in.

Find the average acceleration that the athlete would achieve when sprinting the 200 m, according to this model.

A go kart manufacturer is testing out a new model on a straight horizontal road.

Starting from rest, the velocity of the go kart is modelled by the equation 

where is the velocity of the go kart at time t seconds and w is a constant.

Given the maximum speed of the go kart is , find the value of w and the time at which the go kart reaches its maximum speed.

(i) Find the maximum acceleration of the new go kart model.

(ii) Justify that your answer to part (i) is a maximum.

A home-made rocket is launched from rest, at time t = 0 seconds, from ground level with an acceleration of . The rocket’s acceleration is then modelled by the equation.                          

(i) Find an expression for the velocity of the home-made rocket.

(ii) Other than at launch, find the time when the velocity of the rocket is .

Find the greatest height the rocket reaches, giving your answer in kilometres to three significant figures.

A zip-wire running between two trees in a children’s park is modelled as a horizontal line. The velocity-time graph below shows the motion of a child on the zip-wire as it moves from one tree to the other.

The graph has the equation  for , where is the velocity at time t seconds. 

(i) Find the distance between the two trees.

(ii) Find the distance between the child and the second tree when the zip-wire comes to rest.

Find the acceleration of the zip-wire after 1 second.

A bullet train has a maximum acceleration of .

One such train leaves a station at time seconds and its displacement, , from the station is modelled using the equation 

Show that it takes 8 seconds for the bullet train to reach its maximum acceleration.

After reaching its maximum acceleration the bullet train continues to accelerate at that rate until its velocity reaches its maximum of .

How long does it take for this increase in velocity to happen?

Once reaching its maximum velocity, the bullet train continues at this velocity for 10 minutes. Find the displacement of the train from the station at this time, giving your answer in kilometres to 3 significant figures.

The acceleration, , of a particle moving in a straight line at time  is given by  for  . Initially the velocity of the particle is .

Find the time(s) when the particle is instantaneously at rest.

Find the exact total distance travelled by the particle in the first 6 seconds of motion.

Show your method clearly.

A car is travelling along a straight horizontal motorway and passes a service station at time seconds. The car’s displacement, s metres, from the service station is then modelled by the equation

Show that the model indicates that the car never returns to the service station it passes at seconds.

Show that the car is decelerating for the first  seconds after passing the service station.

A particle moving along a straight line has velocity,, at time t seconds according to the equation

Find the times at which the particle is instantaneously stationary.

Find the times between which the acceleration of the particle is negative.

An athlete training for the  sprint is aiming to run according to the model

where  is the displacement from the starting point at time t seconds.

To help the athlete keep pace, markers are put every 100 m along the track.

(i) Find the times that the athlete should pass the 100 m, 200 m and 300 m markers. Justify your choice of answers.

(ii) Find the time the athlete should be aiming to finish the 400 m sprint in.

Find the average acceleration, according to the model, for the last 50 m of the sprint. Comment on what the results indicate.

A go kart manufacturer is testing out a new model on a straight horizontal road.

Starting from rest, the velocity of the go kart is modelled by the equation

where is the velocity of the go kart at time t seconds. p is an integer.

Find the value of p.

Find the maximum and minimum velocities of the go kart in the first p seconds of its motion. Write down the acceleration of the go kart at these points.

A home-made rocket is launched from rest at ground level at time seconds. Its acceleration is initially and is modelled by the equation

Find the total distance travelled by the rocket and the total time it spends in the air.

Give both answers to three significant figures and state any modelling assumptions you have made.

In a cheese-rolling competition, a cylindrical block of cheese is rolled down a hill and its acceleration, , is modelled by the functions

where t is the time in seconds and A is a constant. At the bottom of the hill the land is flat. The block of cheese comes to rest when its acceleration is

By first finding the value of the constant A, find the distance the block of cheese rolls before it comes to rest.

A high-speed train leaves a station at time seconds and its displacement, s m, from the station is modelled using the equation

where p and q are constants.

In the first 10 seconds after the train leaves the station, the average velocity is   and the average acceleration is  .

By first finding the values of p and q, find an expression for the acceleration of the high-speed train for

The acceleration, , of a particle moving in a straight line at time t hours is given by for  After 24 hours the particle has returned to where it started.

Show that the velocity, , of the particle at time t hours can be written as

where k is a constant to be found.

Find the exact total distance travelled by the particle in the first 24 hours of motion. 

Show your method clearly.