A car travels at a constant velocity of 20.0 meters/second for 15 seconds. What is the power of the car if the initial force applied to it was 95 newtons?
We know that work is \(Force \times Distance\). We know that the Force is 95 N. But we need Distance to complete this problem. The car travels a distance of \(velocity \times time\) Meters because velocity is in meters/sec and time is in secs; so \( \dfrac{meters}{\cancel{sec}} \times \cancel{sec}\) = meters, which has the units of distance. The distance traveled in 15 seconds is : $$ 20~ \dfrac{meters}{\cancel{sec}} \times 15 \cancel{sec}=20*15~ meters $$ This tells us that the power of the car is \(Force \times Distance=95*20*15 ~Joules/second\)
Note that power has units of Energy per unit time. Energy is measured in Joules so Power is Joules per second.
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