Hello, I could use some help on a constant accelerationproblem I had on a test. I believe I got the wrong answer of timet=2.91 seconds after I heard some different answers from otherstudents. I think I may have gone about this problem totally wrong.If someone can show me how this is done I would appreciate itmuch. thanks Here is the problem. A car traveling at 45 m/s passes abillboard where a highway patrol sits. 1 second after the carpasses the patrolman leaves from rest with an acceleration of3.0 m/s^2. How long until the highway patrol car overtakesthe other car? Hello, I could use some help on a constant accelerationproblem I had on a test. I believe I got the wrong answer of timet=2.91 seconds after I heard some different answers from otherstudents. I think I may have gone about this problem totally wrong.If someone can show me how this is done I would appreciate itmuch. thanks Here is the problem. A car traveling at 45 m/s passes abillboard where a highway patrol sits. 1 second after the carpasses the patrolman leaves from rest with an acceleration of3.0 m/s^2. How long until the highway patrol car overtakesthe other car?
Explanation / Answer
the distance travelled for both the cars isthe same so that for the first car using the equation ofmotion we get that s = 0 + (1 / 2) (45 / t) t2 for the second car using the equation ofmotion we get that s = 0 + (1 / 2) (3.0 m / s2) (t +1)2 equate both the equations and solve for thetime t time t must be geater than 1 for the second car using the equation ofmotion we get that s = 0 + (1 / 2) (3.0 m / s2) (t +1)2 equate both the equations and solve for thetime t time t must be geater than 1 equate both the equations and solve for thetime t time t must be geater than 1