Question

A bicyclist travels the first 800 m of a trip 1.4 minutes, the next 500 m in 1.6 minutes, and finishes up the final 1200 m in 2 minutes. Find the average speed (in meters/min) of the bicyclist for this trip. 500 meters/min

Answer 1

Answer:

 v_average = 500 m / min

Explanation:

Average speed is defined

         v = (x_{f} -x₀) / Δt

let's look in each section

section 1

the variation of the distance is 800 in a time of 1.4 min

         v₁ = 800 / 1.4

         v₁ = 571.4 m / min

section 2

distance interval 500 in a 1.6 min time interval

         v₂ = 500 / 1.6

         v₂ = 312.5 m / min

section 3

distance interval 1200 m in a time 2 min

         v₃ = 1200/2

         v₃ = 600 m / min

taking the speed of each section we can calculate the average speed

         

the distance traveled

        Δx = 800 + 500 + 1200

        Δx = 2500 m

the time spent

        Δt = 1.4 + 1.6+ 2

        Δt = 5 min

         v_average = Δx / Δt

         v_average = 2500/5

         v_average = 500 m / min