The Amazing Speed of a Cheetah

How fast can a cheetah run and what is its average acceleration during a short sprint? The cheetah can reach a top speed of 114 km/h (71 mi/h). During a short sprint, the cheetah starts from rest and runs 48 m in a straight line, reaching a final speed of 74 km/h. The cheetah's average acceleration during the short sprint is 4.4 m/s².

To determine the cheetah's average acceleration during the short sprint, we first need to convert the final speed from km/h to m/s. The final speed of 74 km/h is equivalent to 20.56 m/s (when rounded to 2 decimal places).

The formula for acceleration is final speed minus initial speed divided by time. The time can be calculated using the formula distance divided by average speed, where the average speed is calculated as the sum of the final speed and initial speed divided by 2. In this case, we have 48m divided by (20.56m/s plus 0m/s) divided by 2, which equals 4.68s.

Therefore, the average acceleration is calculated as (20.56 m/s minus 0 m/s) divided by 4.68s, resulting in 4.4 m/s².

Additionally, the displacement of the cheetah at t= 3.2 s can be found assuming constant acceleration. By using the formula displacement equals initial speed multiplied by time plus half times acceleration times time squared, we can calculate the displacement. Substituting the values, we find that the displacement equals 0 m multiplied by 3.2 plus 0.5 multiplied by 4.4 multiplied by 3.2 squared, which equals 22.53 m.

Witness the incredible speed and acceleration of a cheetah as it dashes through the wild!

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