Shifting Gears

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A car starts from rest and accelerates in first gear at 4.0 m/s2. At some time the car shifts to second gear and accelerates at 1.0 m/s2. Now the velocity component is plotted.

  1. Can you determine from what is on the screen the time at which the shift occured?
  2. What is the name of the path that the car travels?
  3. What is the name of the curve on the graph for the velocity of the car?
  4. Can you use the graph to find the acceleration for each part of the car's motion?

Problem © 2003 by Vern Lindberg (RIT) using Wolfgang Christian's Physlets.. Adapted from Aaron Titus.