A car starts from a static position and accelerates uniformly until it reaches a certain speed. If five cars reach the following speeds in the given amounts of time, which car will have gone the farthest distance after 1 second?
Loading ...
Correct Answer: C. 0 to 55 mph in 3.5 seconds
This can be solved using the formulas of kinetics, but may require some time. However, there is an easier way of solving this. A uniform acceleration implies that the speed increases linearly. So, at the end of the first second, the speed for the first car will be simply 60 / 4 = 15 mph, which is the same for the answer choices B and D as well. The speed after 1 sec for choice C is higher than 15 mph, and that for E is lower than 15 mph. So, the car in C has the highest speed after 1 sec. Since its average speed over this 1 sec period is higher than the rest of the cars, it must have traveled more distance than the others during this period as well.
Subscribe below to get the DAT Question of the Day delivered straight to your inbox every morning.
