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If two trains are facing each other and start at rest, atwhich point do they mee

ID: 1665735 • Letter: I

Question

If two trains are facing each other and start at rest, atwhich point do they meet? One is accelerating at1.0m/s2 and the other at 1.3m/s2. Theyare 40m apart. How do I get started with this kind of problem? I'vemade several attempts, but my answers are turning out crazy. Thanks! If two trains are facing each other and start at rest, atwhich point do they meet? One is accelerating at1.0m/s2 and the other at 1.3m/s2. Theyare 40m apart. How do I get started with this kind of problem? I'vemade several attempts, but my answers are turning out crazy. Thanks!

Explanation / Answer

Let the train accelerating at 1m/s^2 start at point x=0 and headright (towards positive x) let the train accelerating at 1.3m/s^2 start at point x=40m andhead left (towards negative x) equation for first train d=vo*t+1/2*a*t^2 d=0.5t2 equation for the second train d=xo+vo*t+1/2*a*t^2, acceleration for this train is negative sinceit is going towards negative x d=40-0.65t2 set the d's equal to eachother to solve for t 0.5t2=40-0.65t2 t=5.898sec so sub that into the first equation, d=0.5t2 d=0.5*(5.898)^2, d=17.39m that is 17.39 m away from the train that is accelerating at1m/s2