mmoadi
Oct11-09, 05:10 PM
1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
Upon merging from side to main road and starting from rest with a constant acceleration 3 m/s². At the exact time of our merging, another car is driving on the main road in the same direction with speed 50 km/h. At least how far behind us should the car be, if we don’t want it to catch up with us?
2. Relevant equations
v^2 = v0^2 + 2as
s = (v^2 - v0^2) / 2a
3. The attempt at a solution
First I converted 50 km/h into 13.89 m/s.
For initial velocity I took 0, because the car starts from rest. For velocity I took the velocity of the second car, which is 50km/h (13.89m/s).
After plugging the numbers into the formula s = (v^2 - v0^2) / 2a, a got the result 4.38 m.
Somehow the distance seems too small?! Were my calculations correct?
Upon merging from side to main road and starting from rest with a constant acceleration 3 m/s². At the exact time of our merging, another car is driving on the main road in the same direction with speed 50 km/h. At least how far behind us should the car be, if we don’t want it to catch up with us?
2. Relevant equations
v^2 = v0^2 + 2as
s = (v^2 - v0^2) / 2a
3. The attempt at a solution
First I converted 50 km/h into 13.89 m/s.
For initial velocity I took 0, because the car starts from rest. For velocity I took the velocity of the second car, which is 50km/h (13.89m/s).
After plugging the numbers into the formula s = (v^2 - v0^2) / 2a, a got the result 4.38 m.
Somehow the distance seems too small?! Were my calculations correct?