Hannah, Rosie, Noor 8-2
Acceleration Word Problem
1. My little sister, Alexa, had a huge birthday pool party involving gigantic slip n’ slides down our
long front lawn. Alexa has many friends that wanted to experiment with different liquids that they
all loved to make the slides more fun. One friend was convinced olive oil would make the slides
go faster, but another one of my sister’s friends countered that idea. She thought that maple syrup
would be a better substance than olive oil. This prompted all my sister’s friends to create teams of
which substance they believed would make the slides more slippery. To find out which substance
worked the best, Alexa and her friends got out the slip n’ slides and smoothed them out on the
grass that covered the front lawn. The slip n’ slides covered 30m5 of our front lawn and the
approximate weight of my sister and her friends are about 86lb5. There were two slides, one for
each of the different liquids, and each friend raced to find out which team won. The friend at
every slip ‘n slide were required to start standing3 so no one would have a head start, and then the
race was on. Ready… set… slide! The friend that started on the olive oil slide accelerated over a
time of 4.25 seconds for a distance of 21.25m4,2. But, unfortunately for the friend that chose the
maple syrup, she quickly stopped1 halfway down the slide, at 7m/s in 7.86 seconds1.Which friend
accelerated the most because of the substance on the slide? Prove your answer using the
acceleration of each substance (round to the nearest hundredth).
2. My little sister, Alexa, had a huge birthday pool party involving gigantic slip n’ slides down our
long front lawn. Alexa has many friends that wanted to experiment with different liquids that they
all loved to make the slides more fun. One friend was convinced olive oil would make the slides
go faster, but another one of my sister’s friends countered that idea. She thought that maple syrup
would be a better substance than olive oil. This prompted all my sister’s friends to create teams of
which substance they believed would make the slides more slippery. To find out which substance
worked the best, Alexa and her friends got out the slip n’ slides and smoothed them out on the
grass that covered the front lawn. The slip n’ slides covered 30m5 of our front lawn and the
approximate weight of my sister and her friends are about 86lb. There were two slides, one for
each of the different liquids, and each friend raced to find out which team won. The friend at
every slip ‘n slide were required to start standing so no one would have a head start, and then the
race was on. Ready… set… slide! The friend that started on the olive oil slide accelerated over a
time of 4.25 seconds for a distance of 21.25m. But, unfortunately for the friend that chose the
maple syrup, she quickly stopped halfway down the slide, at 7m/s in 7.86 seconds.Which friend
accelerated the most because of the substance on the slide? Prove your answer using the
acceleration of each substance (round to the nearest hundredth).
3. 3 Questions
● What is another term for negative acceleration and provide an example of it from the article.
● Which substance in the article had a greater rate of acceleration as compared to the other
substances?
● What term and/or phrase did the writer include in the article to imply that the friends are at rest,
as in they are not moving?
● What two pieces of information does the writer include in the article that are irrelevant, as they do
not provide information necessary to solve for speed or acceleration?
5.
Hannah, Rosie, Noor 8-2
Acceleration Word Problem
6.
1. What is another term for negative
acceleration and provide an example of it from the article.
Another term for negative acceleration is deceleration. An example from the word problem is that
the friend who used the maple syrup stopped halfway down the slide.
2. Which substance in the article had a greater rate of acceleration as compared to the other
substances?
Olive Oil: 21.25m = 5 m/s 5 m/s-0m/s = 1.18 m/s2
4.25s 4.25s
Hannah, Rosie, Noor 8-2
Acceleration Word Problem
Maple Syrup: 7m/s-0m/s = 0.89 m/s2
7.86s
The friend on the olive oil covered slide had a greater rate of acceleration as compared to the
friends on the maple syrup slide.
3. What term and/or phrase did the writer include in the article to imply that (an object) is at rest, as in
it is not moving?
The phrase that the writer included in the article that implied that her sister and her friends were
at rest before they started sliding was, “The friend at every slip ‘n slide were required to start
standing so no one would have a head start.” This implied that they were at rest because when they
were standing, they weren’t moving.
4. What two pieces of information does the writer include in the article that are irrelevant, as they do
4. Google image to accompany our text
not provide information necessary to solve for speed or acceleration?
The weight of Alexa and her friend being 86lbs and the fact that the slide covers a distance of 30m
is irrelevant information that is not necessary to solve for speed or acceleration.
