Calculating Length of Airplane Start Lane for 300 km/h Acceleration

  • Thread starter Thread starter Izekid
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Airplane
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
2 replies · 2K views
Izekid
Messages
40
Reaction score
0
I have a hard one here :
The lane for starting a airplane must be long enough for a airplane to accelerate to 300km/h with a constant acceleration on 1.6m/s2. How long must the startlane be?

This is what I've found out,

I take 300km/h and make it to m/s
300 / 3.6 = 83,3m/s
Then I because I don't know the time I take
t=v/a 83,3/1,6=132,8sek
Then I take
S=1/2(v0+v)*t = 1/2(0+83)*132,8 = 5511m = 5,5km

But I think that's not the right answer what have I done wrong?

Thankful for all help
 
Physics news on Phys.org

Discussion

There is a solution to this problem. Basic constant acceleration equations are your best friend here.

You were right to convert your final velocity to m/s. You also have an initial velocity which is not stated, but you can say that initial velocity is 0.

You made a mistake with your time calculation. (83.3)/(1.6) can not be 132 sec. You are dividing by a number bigger than 1. The number must be smaller than 83.3. There's the hint for you. Your last step was correct but using the wrong time number.