A sailboat is traveling to the right when a gust of wind causes the boat to accelerate leftward at 2.5m/s^2. After the wind stops, the sailboat is traveling to the left with a velocity of 3.0m/s. Assuming the acceleration from the wind is constant, what was the initial velocity of the sailboat before the gust of wind? Answer using a coordinate system where rightward is positive.

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Physics

16 July, 11:52

A sailboat is traveling to the right when a gust of wind causes the boat to accelerate leftward at 2.5m/s^2. After the wind stops, the sailboat is traveling to the left with a velocity of 3.0m/s. Assuming the acceleration from the wind is constant, what was the initial velocity of the sailboat before the gust of wind? Answer using a coordinate system where rightward is positive.

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Ansley · Answer 1

+7.0 m/s

Explanation:

Let's take rightward as a positive direction.

So in this problem we have:

a = - 2.5 m/s^2 acceleration due to the wind (negative because it is leftward)

t = 4 s time interval

v = - 3.0 m/s is the final velocity (negative because it is leftward)

We can use the following equation:

v = u + at

Where u is the initial velocity

We want to find u, so if we rearrange the equation we find:

u = v - at = (-3m/s) - (-2.5m/s^2) (4s) = + 7.0m/s

and the positive sign means the initial direction was rightward.