Teach 180: From 0 to 60 in 1.513 Seconds (Day 134)

In Calculus, we are studying integration and on Friday we were going to look at the acceleration of a car from 0 to 50 miles per hour.  To make it a bit more interesting that just considering a generic car, we considered the acceleration and distance traveled by the world's fastest accelerating car.  The world record for the fastest accelerating car is 0 to 60 mph in 1.513 seconds.  We started by calculating the acceleration in miles per hour squared.  Then, we integrated the acceleration function to get the velocity function.  Finally, we integrated the velocity function to get the position function.  For the final step, we decided to change miles to feet. The verdict?  The car travels from 0 to 60 mph in 1.513 seconds and travels about 66 feet.

I still have the feeling that my students don't understand how fast that truly is.  Perhaps next time, we need to compare that acceleration to acceleration of roller coasters.  Or, we need to see how fast 1.513 seconds really is by having students try to write their names in 1.513 seconds.