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Distance in time at acceleration

  1. Nov 2, 2006 #1
    what is the formula to find the time it takes for an object to travel a distance at a certain acceleration from a certain initial velocity? I think i've figured out it without taking into account the initial v which would be t = squareroot( (d * 2) / a), i think.... but i'm not sure how to fit the initial velocity in there.
  2. jcsd
  3. Nov 2, 2006 #2
    Can you show some work?
  4. Nov 2, 2006 #3


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    Start off with the equation [tex]d = d_{0}+v_{0}t+\frac{1}{2}at^2[/tex]. The equation you got would be valid for d0 = v0 = 0.
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2006
  5. Nov 2, 2006 #4
    radou i have no idea how to rearrange that formula, cyrusabdollahi, an example would be if a rocket is in space with the engine off traveling at 1000 m/s towards the sun and then turns the engine on and starts accelerating at 100 m/s/s in the same direction how long would it take to travel 1000 km towards the sun from when it starts accelerating.
  6. Nov 2, 2006 #5
    What is your level of math?
  7. Nov 2, 2006 #6
    level = low
  8. Nov 2, 2006 #7
  9. Nov 2, 2006 #8
    this works i dunno if it can be simplified any,

    t = d / ((sqrt(pow(v0, 2) + 2 * a * d) + v0) / 2)

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