Um, excuse me, but wouldn't the final velocity of an object be the initial velocity times the number of seconds of acceleration? it says its Vf = Vi+at.
Doh! Thats displacement Im thinking about! ah oh well... any thoughts on that? :D

Question

Um, excuse me, but wouldn't the final velocity of an object be the initial velocity times the number of seconds of acceleration? it says its Vf = Vi+at.
Doh! Thats displacement Im thinking about! ah oh well... any thoughts on that? :D

anonymous · Answer

Acceleration is how much velocity a body gains per second. So, the velocity acquired will be acceleration times the number of seconds. If the body already had an initial velocity, then the final velocity will be the initial velocity put together with the velocity it acquired while accelerating. 

To calculate displacement, you compute the product of average velocity (which is conveniently the arithmetic mean of initial and final velocities) and time of travel.