Motion - Overtaking Vehicles question

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on a physics problem involving a car attempting to overtake a truck while considering the speed of an oncoming vehicle. The car, traveling at 90 km/hr, is 15 meters behind a 15-meter-long truck moving at 60 km/hr. The calculated time to overtake is 5.4 seconds, using the formula L / (Vb - Va), where L is the total distance to be covered (45 meters) and Vb and Va are the velocities of the car and truck, respectively. The problem also requires determining the distances traveled by both the car and the oncoming vehicle during this overtaking maneuver.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic kinematics and motion equations
  • Familiarity with speed conversions (km/hr to m/s)
  • Knowledge of relative velocity concepts
  • Ability to solve linear motion problems
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  • Calculate the distance traveled by the car during the overtaking time of 5.4 seconds
  • Determine the distance traveled by the oncoming vehicle in the same time frame
  • Explore the implications of safe overtaking distances and speeds
  • Review additional physics problems involving relative motion and overtaking scenarios
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Students studying physics, particularly those focusing on kinematics and motion problems, as well as educators looking for practical examples of overtaking scenarios in traffic safety discussions.

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Homework Statement



A car is traveling 15m behind a 15m long truck. The speed limit is 90km/hr. But the truck is traveling at 60 km/hr. the car wants to overtake the truck, and when it does, it reaches speed of 90km/hr and has to be 15m in front of the truck in order to do this. The car will be parallel with the truck (I think it means beside it in a 2 lane road). However an oncoming vehicle traveling at 90km/hr is 400m away from the vehicle. Should the vehicle overtaking overtake or not?

Homework Equations



L / (Vb - Va)

Where L is the distance, and Vb is the velocity of the vehicle trying to overtake, and Va is the velocity of the car that is being overtaken (in this instance the truck).

The Attempt at a Solution



I began with:

60 km/h = 16.67 m/s
90 km/h = 25 m/s

Therefore:
Time to overtake = L / (Vb - Va)
= (15 + 15 + 15) / (25 - 16.67)
= 5.4 seconds

That's all I could do. Sorry this topic is new to me and my exam is tomorrow. The teacher handed us practice questions without solutions on our last lesson. All help would greatly be appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What is the distance the car travels in those 5.4 seconds? What is the distance the other car travels in that time?
 

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