- #1
Heidi Henkel
- 65
- 1
I have data from road tests done in someone else's experiment that show that a car with studded snow tires will take on average 23 meters to stop from 25 mph on packed powder at 0 degrees C. From that information, can I figure out what length of time it takes for the car to stop? Can I figure out lengths of time of segments of this process? For example, can I figure out what length of time it takes to travel the first 6 meters of my skid, or what length of time it takes to slow down from 25 to 20 mph, or both? If a car with these tires starts at 25 mph, skids for 6 meters, and hits a guardrail, for what length of time did they skid? (How soon after slamming on the brakes, does this car crash?) Can I get that kind of information, from the stopping distance? Can I use d=.5at^2+vt and then use the Quadratic Equation? (v=initial velocity in the equation) Is this equation adequate for something that doesn't have to do with acceleration due to gravity? And how would I account for the fact that we are not ending with the velocity being zero? If I use that formula, what would I use for a? The initial experiment didn't weigh the cars. Maybe there is a better way to go about it.