Personal Acceleration and Top Speed
Objective:  Determine your top speed and rate of acceleration from a motion graph
Equipment:  Pasco DataStudio^© motion detector or other timing device

Methods and Analysis
1. Line yourself up with the motion detector near the back of the room. Your partner will hit the Start button and cue you to start running to top speed as fast as you can. Be sure to run the designated line so that you remain in line with the motion detector.
2. Print your graph from the computer. This will be a distance-time graph. Indicate on your graph where you are accelerating and where your velocity is constant.
3. Determine where your velocity is constant on the graph, draw a line to best fit this region, then find the slope. Record this as your top speed in both m/s and km/hr.
4. Based on the time and distance to reach your top speed, calculate your rate of acceleration in m/s². Compare this value to the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s²).
5. Compare your top speed with the fastest ever recorded human speed of Donovan Bailey, 11.91 m/s.
6. If Donovan Bailey reaches top speed in 3.00 seconds, what is his rate of acceleration?
7. On your graph, sketch a runner with a rate of acceleration higher than yours and label as a^higher.
8. Accurately sketch a velocity vs time graph of your motion out to 10 seconds.
9. Summary.

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