How Long Does It Take for a Father to Catch His Son if He Accelerates from Rest?

[kencamarador]

A boy is running a a constant velocity of 3.0 m/s [E] and passes his father who is standing still. The father immediately starts to chase his son with a constant acceleration of 1.5m/s at the instant his that his son reachers him

How long does it take the father to catch his son?

Am I correct?

Initial Velocity is 3.0m/s [E]
Average Acceleration is 1.5m/s^2
But what is my V final?

 

[stunner5000pt]

A boy is running a a constant velocity of 3.0 m/s [E] and passes his father who is standing still. The father immediately starts to chase his son with a constant acceleration of 1.5m/s at the instant his that his son reachers him

How long does it take the father to catch his son?

Am I correct?

Initial Velocity is 3.0m/s [E]
Average Acceleration is 1.5m/s^2
But what is my V final?

Are you saying the initial velocity of the father is 3.0m/s?

When the father does catch up to the son, what two quantites - v1,v2,a,d or t - will they have in common?

 

[ehild]

There are two different objects moving, boy and father. The boy moves with constant velocity. The father moves with constant acceleration with zero initial velocity. Father catches the son when they are at the same place again, that is the displacements are equal. Write up the displacement of both in terms of time.

ehild

 

[Vanadium 50]

Please use this thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=674979

 

[Nickie]

Yes, you are correct in determining the initial velocity and average acceleration. In order to calculate the time it takes for the father to catch his son, we will need to know the final velocity of the father. We can calculate this by using the equation: vf = vi + at, where vf is final velocity, vi is initial velocity, a is acceleration, and t is time. Since we know the initial velocity and acceleration, we can plug those values in and solve for the final velocity. Once we have the final velocity, we can use another equation, d = vit + 1/2at^2, to solve for the time it takes for the father to catch his son. In this equation, d is the distance between the father and son, vi is the initial velocity, a is acceleration, and t is time. We know the distance between the father and son is 0 (since they are at the same point when the father starts chasing), so we can solve for t. Once we have the value for t, we will know how long it takes for the father to catch his son.