Braking Distance

[curiousguy]

I haven't taken physics in my college curriculum yet, so could someone help me understand why when slamming the brakes on my car, the weight of my car isn't a factor in the "slide to stop" time? Assuming I am not pulling weight behind me (trailor or something) and I have no collision with anything inbetween slamming on the brakes and stopping. Thanks!!!!!

[krab]

The reason is that the both the inertia and the deceleration force are proportional to the car's mass. The first is ma, and the second is weight times coefficient of friction k, or mgk. Equate the two and the mass cancels. Deceleration a is equal to gk. C'est tout.