Question

An airplane with a velocity of 65 m/s lands on an aircraft carrier with a landing deck 80 m long. What must the plane's constant acceleration be if the plane stays on the aircraft carrier?

Answer 1

Let the initial speed of the airplane u = 65 m/s

Now let the distance travelled by the airplane to stay on the carrier be s = 80 m

Airplane stays on the carrier means it must stop which means that its final velocity is v = 0 m/s

So to find the acceleration , we can use the third kinematical equation

v² - u² = 2 * a * s where a is the constant acceleration of the airplane

0² - 65² = 2 * a * 80

4225 = 160 * a

a = 4225 / 160

= 26.40 m/s²

since the velocity is decreasing , acceleration is taken negative.

so the airplane must have an acceleration a = - 26.40 m/s²