Multi-phase journey: find total distance

A vehicle undergoes distinct phases (acceleration, constant speed, deceleration) with all speeds and times fully given, and the task is to find the total distance travelled (often by computing the area under a velocity-time graph).

8 questions · Moderate -0.9

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CAIE M1 2024 June Q1
4 marks Easy -1.3
1 A car starts from rest and accelerates at \(2 \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 2 }\) for 10 s . It then travels at a constant speed for 30 s . The car then uniformly decelerates to rest over a period of 20 s .
  1. Sketch a velocity-time graph for the motion of the car. \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{2af7fd9a-aa78-4d77-aa4e-c01604c8b0ae-03_762_1081_447_493}
  2. Find the total distance travelled by the car.
CAIE M1 2019 June Q1
5 marks Easy -1.2
1 A bus moves in a straight line between two bus stops. The bus starts from rest and accelerates at \(2.1 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 2 }\) for 5 s . The bus then travels for 24 s at constant speed and finally slows down, with a constant deceleration, stopping in a further 6 s . Sketch a velocity-time graph for the motion and hence find the distance between the two bus stops.
Edexcel M1 2017 January Q1
9 marks Easy -1.2
  1. A train moves along a straight horizontal track between two stations \(R\) and \(S\). Initially the train is at rest at \(R\). The train accelerates uniformly at \(\frac { 1 } { 2 } \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 2 }\) from rest at \(R\) until it is moving with speed \(15 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\). For the next 200 seconds the train maintains a constant speed of \(15 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\). The train then decelerates uniformly at \(\frac { 1 } { 4 } \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 2 }\) until it comes to rest at \(S\).
Find
  1. the time taken by the train to travel from \(R\) to \(S\),
  2. the distance from \(R\) to \(S\),
  3. the average speed of the train during the journey from \(R\) to \(S\).
OCR MEI M1 2007 June Q2
8 marks Moderate -0.8
2 A car passes a point A travelling at \(10 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\). Its motion over the next 45 seconds is modelled as follows.
  • The car's speed increases uniformly from \(10 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) to \(30 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) over the first 10 s .
  • Its speed then increases uniformly to \(40 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) over the next 15 s .
  • The car then maintains this speed for a further 20 s at which time it reaches the point B .
    1. Sketch a speed-time graph to represent this motion.
    2. Calculate the distance from A to B .
    3. When it reaches the point B , the car is brought uniformly to rest in \(T\) seconds. The total distance from A is now 1700 m . Calculate the value of \(T\).
Edexcel Paper 3 2024 June Q2
8 marks Easy -1.2
2. \begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[alt={},max width=\textwidth]{184043b7-1222-44fb-bc9f-3f484f72147b-04_675_1499_242_258} \captionsetup{labelformat=empty} \caption{Figure 2}
\end{figure} Figure 2 shows a speed-time graph for a model of the motion of an athlete running a \(\mathbf { 2 0 0 m }\) race in 24 s . The athlete
  • starts from rest at time \(t = 0\) and accelerates at a constant rate, reaching a speed of \(10 \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\) at \(t = 4\)
  • then moves at a constant speed of \(10 \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\) from \(t = 4\) to \(t = 18\)
  • then decelerates at a constant rate from \(t = 18\) to \(t = 24\), crossing the finishing line with speed \(U \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\)
Using the model,
  1. find the acceleration of the athlete during the first 4 s of the race, stating the units of your answer,
  2. find the distance covered by the athlete during the first 18s of the race,
  3. find the value of \(U\).
Edexcel M1 Q2
7 marks Moderate -0.8
2. An underground train accelerates uniformly from rest at station \(A\) to a velocity of \(24 \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\). It maintains this speed for 84 seconds, until it decelerates uniformly to rest at station \(B\). The total journey time is 116 seconds and the magnitudes of the acceleration and deceleration are equal.
  1. Find the time it takes the train to accelerate from rest to \(24 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\).
  2. Illustrate this information on a velocity-time graph.
  3. Using your graph, or otherwise, find the distance between the two stations.
OCR MEI M1 Q6
8 marks Moderate -0.3
6 A car passes a point A travelling at \(10 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} { } ^ { 1 }\). Its motion over the next 45 seconds is modelled as follows.
  • The car's speed increases uniformly from \(10 \mathrm {~ms} { } ^ { 1 }\) to \(30 \mathrm {~ms} { } ^ { 1 }\) over the first 10 s .
  • Its speed then increases uniformly to \(40 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} { } ^ { 1 }\) over the next 15 s .
  • The car then maintains this speed for a further 20 s at which time it reaches the point B .
    1. Sketch a speed-time graph to represent this motion.
    2. Calculate the distance from A to B .
    3. When it reaches the point B , the car is brought uniformly to rest in \(T\) seconds. The total distance from A is now 1700 m . Calculate the value of \(T\).
Edexcel M1 Q3
Moderate -0.8
3. \begin{figure}[h]
\captionsetup{labelformat=empty} \caption{Figure 2} \includegraphics[alt={},max width=\textwidth]{94d9432d-1723-4549-ad5e-d4be0f5fd083-005_851_1073_312_456}
\end{figure} A sprinter runs a race of 200 m . Her total time for running the race is 25 s . Figure 2 is a sketch of the speed-time graph for the motion of the sprinter. She starts from rest and accelerates uniformly to a speed of \(9 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) in 4 s . The speed of \(9 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) is maintained for 16 s and she then decelerates uniformly to a speed of \(u \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) at the end of the race. Calculate
  1. the distance covered by the sprinter in the first 20 s of the race,
  2. the value of \(u\),
  3. the deceleration of the sprinter in the last 5 s of the race.