Understanding Velocities - AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

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Question

The velocity (in meters per second) of a moving particle is given by the following function:

If the particle's initial position is 0m, what is the position of the particle after two seconds?

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Answer

To solve this problem you need to obtain a function of position with respect to time. For that, you need to understand velocity as the rate of change of displacement with respect to time. In other words, velocity is "how fast" (i.e. how much time it takes) an object changes position (remember displacement is the change in position). This means that velocity is the derivative of displacement with respect to time.

Therefore, to obtain a function of position with respect to time you need to take the antiderivative of the velocity function, so we integrate:

Here, is a constant that represents the initial position of the particle. We know that the initial position of the particle is 0m, so our function is:

Therefore, after two seconds have passed, we have t = 2s and

Note: we know that position is given in meters since the question specified that velocity is measured in meters per second.

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