- #1
prace
- 102
- 0
Hello,
I am having an issue with this simple kinematics problem. I have the question visualized, well, at least I think I do. Here is the question:
Two cars are traveling along a straight road. Car A maintains a constand speed of 80 km/h; car B maintains a constant speed of 110 km/h. At t = 0, car B is 45 km behind car A. How much farther will car A travel before it is overtaken by car B?
So to start off, I graphed the problem and came up with this:
http://album6.snapandshare.com/3936/45466/853951.jpg
where series 1 is car A and series 2 is car B.
I also know that this has to do with position and time, so I am most likely going to use one of my kinematical equations that deals with position and time, so I chose the equation: [tex]x_{f}=x_{i}+v_{0}t+\frac{1}{2} a t^2[/tex] because I know that the accelleration is constant and is equal to 0 since the cars are not speeding up. I also know that the final positions have to be equal, but how do I equate the final positions of the two cars? Or is this even the right direction for me to solve the problem?
I mean, I could just graph the two lines, find the equations, and then find the intersection of those two lines, but I would like to learn how to do it using the kinematical equations.
Thanks
I am having an issue with this simple kinematics problem. I have the question visualized, well, at least I think I do. Here is the question:
Two cars are traveling along a straight road. Car A maintains a constand speed of 80 km/h; car B maintains a constant speed of 110 km/h. At t = 0, car B is 45 km behind car A. How much farther will car A travel before it is overtaken by car B?
So to start off, I graphed the problem and came up with this:
http://album6.snapandshare.com/3936/45466/853951.jpg
where series 1 is car A and series 2 is car B.
I also know that this has to do with position and time, so I am most likely going to use one of my kinematical equations that deals with position and time, so I chose the equation: [tex]x_{f}=x_{i}+v_{0}t+\frac{1}{2} a t^2[/tex] because I know that the accelleration is constant and is equal to 0 since the cars are not speeding up. I also know that the final positions have to be equal, but how do I equate the final positions of the two cars? Or is this even the right direction for me to solve the problem?
I mean, I could just graph the two lines, find the equations, and then find the intersection of those two lines, but I would like to learn how to do it using the kinematical equations.
Thanks
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