A cartoon shows two friends watching an unoccupied car in free fall after it has rolled off a diff. One friend says to the other, "It goes from zero to sixty mphin about three seconds." Is this statement correct? (Note that 60 mph converts to 26.8 m/s.)

The statement is not correct.

Explanation:

To know if the statement is correct, we shall determine the velocity of the car after 3 s. This is illustrated below.

Data obtained from the question include:

Initial velocity (u) = 0 m/s

Acceleration due to gravity (g) = 9.8 m/s²

Time (t) = 3 s

Final velocity (v) =?

v = u + gt

v = 0 + (9.8 × 3)

v = 0 + 29.4

v = 29.4 m/s

Thus, the velocity of the car after 3 s is 29.4 m/s.

Hence, the statement made by the friend is not correct as the car has a falling velocity of 29.4 m/s after 3 s.