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Example Questions
Example Question #551 : Spatial Calculus
Find the acceleration function if the velocity function is .
Acceleration is equal to the derivative of velocity.
Recall the following rules of differentiation to help solve this problem.
Power Rule:
Differentiation rules for sine and cosine:
Chain rule:
Therefore, by the chain rule, the power rule, and the derivative rule for sine,
.
Example Question #552 : Spatial Calculus
Find the acceleration function if the position function is .
Acceleration is equal to the second derivative of position with respect to time.
Recall the following rules of differentiation to help solve this problem.
Power Rule:
Product Rule:
Exponentials Rule:
Therefore, by the product rule, the power rule, and the rule for differentiating exponentials,
Example Question #553 : Spatial Calculus
The position of a snake's head as it moves through the sand is given by . This distance is in meters. At what rate is its head accelerating at seconds?
The position is given by the function . First find the function for velocity by finding the derivative using the chain rule:
Then find the function for acceleration by finding the derivative using the chain rule:
We are seeking the acceleration at seconds, so plug in for t:
Example Question #161 : How To Find Acceleration
An object is traveling along a path determined by the function . Use meters for position and seconds for time. What is its initial acceleration?
Take the first derivative to determine the function for velocity, using the chain rule:
.
Now use the chain rule again to find the second derivative, the function for acceleration:
We're looking for the acceleration at , so plug in 0:
At 0, sine is 0 and cosine is 1, so this results in
Example Question #551 : Calculus
Given the velocity function, find the acceleration at .
None of these
The derivative of velocity is accleration.
The power rule states that the derivative of is .
Thus the acceleration function is
.
The last step is to plug in 4 to the acceleration function.
Example Question #552 : Calculus
Given the position function, find the acceleration function.
None of these
Velocity is the derivative of position. Acceleration is the derivative of velocity. That means that the second derivative of position is the acceleration.
The derivative of is .
So using these rules
.
Example Question #551 : Calculus
The position of a particle is given by the function:
What is its acceleration function?
Acceleration can be found as the second time derivative of the position function, or the first time derivative of the velocity function:
Begin by finding the velocity function by deriving the postion function with respect to time:
After that, derive once more to find acceleration:
Example Question #553 : Calculus
The velocity of a function is given by the function . What is the acceleration function?
Acceleration is given as the time derivative of velocity:
Therefore, if velocity is given as:
Then acceleration is
which can also be written as
If the derivative seems tricky, it may help to view the velocity function as
and then to use the product rule of derivatives.
Example Question #161 : How To Find Acceleration
A particle moves with the following position equation:
What is the accleration of the particle at the position ?
None of the other answers.
To find the acceleration function, we must find the second derivative of the position equation (which is the acceleration equation):
The derivatives were found using the following rules:
, , , ,
Now, plug in the point x=0 into the second derivative function to find the acceleration of the particle:
Example Question #554 : Spatial Calculus
A particle's position at any time is given by the function .
What is its acceleration at time ?
Acceleration is the second time derivative of the positional function and the first time derivative of the velocity function:
If position is expressed as:
Then acceleration can be found to be:
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