How to find time (t) when initial velocity (u), final velocity (v) is given and acceleration (a) is not constant?

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Physics

Aaron Pennington

22 April, 16:15

How to find time (t) when initial velocity (u), final velocity (v) is given and acceleration (a) is not constant?

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Answers (1)

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Evelyn Stevens · Answer 1

You can do this if you have a working knowledge of calculus.

You need to model the acceleration as a function of time, ie obtain a function a (t) that gives acceleration a for any time t.

Using the fundamental theorem of calculus, you should integrate a (t) from t=0 to a variable value of time t. This should get you an expression in terms of t.

Now set this expression equal to the difference of the final and initial velocity, v-u, and solve for t.