Car's Acceleration Into Gusting Wind

Thread starter Pat.Foop
Start date Mar 13, 2009
Tags

Acceleration Wind

AI Thread Summary

The discussion revolves around calculating the time it takes for a 2500kg car, initially traveling at 35mph into a headwind gust of 28mph, to reach a velocity of 50mph as the wind gust decreases to 16mph. Participants are prompted to consider the forces acting on the car, including the constant force from the accelerator and the changing wind resistance. The conversation encourages problem-solving strategies and the application of relevant physics equations. The focus is on understanding the dynamics of acceleration in varying wind conditions. Overall, the thread seeks to clarify the approach to solving this physics problem.

Mar 13, 2009

Pat.Foop

Homework Statement

A 2500kg car is traveling 35mph into a head wind gust of 28mph. The wind gust lessens to 16mph. How many seconds will it take for the car to reach velocity of 50mph assuming the force applied to the accelerator throughout remains unchanged?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

Physics news on Phys.org

Mar 13, 2009

LowlyPion

Homework Helper

Welcome to PF.

How would you think to approach this?

Thread 'Errors and significant figures'

I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...

View full post »

Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'

Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...

View full post »

Thread 'Explain this asphalt sheen'

This problem is two parts. The first is to determine what effects are being provided by each of the elements - 1) the window panes; 2) the asphalt surface. My answer to that is The second part of the problem is exactly why you get this affect. And one more spoiler:

View full post »