Understanding the Concepts
* Acceleration: The rate at which an object's velocity changes.
* Initial Velocity (v₀): The velocity of the object at the beginning of the time interval. In this case, the car starts from rest, so v₀ = 0 ft/s.
* Final Velocity (v): The velocity of the object at the end of the time interval. Here, v = 55 ft/s.
* Time (t): The duration of the acceleration. In this case, t = 4 seconds.
Formula
The formula for calculating acceleration is:
acceleration (a) = (final velocity (v) - initial velocity (v₀)) / time (t)
Calculation
1. Plug in the values:
a = (55 ft/s - 0 ft/s) / 4 s
2. Simplify:
a = 55 ft/s / 4 s
3. Calculate:
a = 13.75 ft/s²
Answer
The magnitude of the car's acceleration is 13.75 ft/s².
