- #1
gnarly
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Homework Statement
The acceleration of a particle is defined by the relation
a=-k(v)^2 k is a constant.
The particle starts at x=0 with a velocity of 20 m/s. At x=100 m its velocity is 15 m/s
Determine the distance traveled by the particle (starting from x=0)
A) before its velocity drops to 10 m/s
B)before it comes to rest.
This is the only problem in college I encountered that I couldn't solve. I took calculus 3 it seems to be so simple yet I have no idea how to solve. I don't get how I can find the position without the time traveled. I don't get how acceleration can be dependent on the velocity. I spent so many hours tryying to solve this. It seems like i could integrate a twice to obtain the position function but that turns out to be wrong. I can't believe that math class seems so easy to me but i can't even solve the math problems in a standard first year physics class. This seems to be a differential equations problem but it can't be as its in a first year physics class. Sorry i couldn't really attempt a solution because i don't know where to begin. Any help will be greatly appreciated.