Understanding the Concepts

* Acceleration: Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. It's how quickly an object's speed and/or direction changes.

* Initial Velocity (v₀): This is the object's starting velocity, which is 30 miles per second.

* Final Velocity (v): This is the object's ending velocity, which is 0 miles per second (since it comes to a stop).

* Time (t): The time it takes for the object to change velocity, which is 5 seconds.

Formula

The formula for acceleration is:

```

acceleration (a) = (final velocity (v) - initial velocity (v₀)) / time (t)

```

Calculations

1. Convert miles per second to meters per second:

* 1 mile = 1609.34 meters

* 30 miles/second = 30 * 1609.34 meters/second ≈ 48280.2 meters/second

2. Plug the values into the formula:

* a = (0 m/s - 48280.2 m/s) / 5 s

* a = -9656.04 m/s²

Result

The acceleration is -9656.04 meters per second squared. The negative sign indicates that the object is decelerating (slowing down).

Important Note: The acceleration is very high in this example. It's important to remember that this calculation assumes the object is slowing down at a constant rate. In reality, most objects don't decelerate uniformly.