Need help translating from Physics to English

[willworkforfood]

I don't speak Physics, so I strongly request one of you gurus out there to tell me precisely what it means. I don't want any answers (please) or hints towards working the problem, because I should be doing all of that myself. Rather, I want to know what the given terms mean.

The question "A speeder passes a parked police car at a constant speed of 39.3 m/s. At that instant the police car starts from rest with a uniform acceleration of 2.03m/s^2. How much time t in seconds passes before the speeder is overtaken by the police car?"

For practical purposes of this problem, can I assume "speed" to be equivalent to velocity? Is uniform acceleration the same thing as constant acceleration? Finally, when they say the speeder is "overtaken" by the police car, do they mean when the two position values are equal to each other and to find that corresponding t value?

Thanks in advance

 

[TD]

For practical purposes of this problem, can I assume "speed" to be equivalent to velocity?

Velocity is the vector, speed the absolute value (so the magnitude). Since all the movement happens in one direction, you may do so.

Is uniform acceleration the same thing as constant acceleration?

Yes

Finally, when they say the speeder is "overtaken" by the police car, do they mean when the two position values are equal to each other and to find that corresponding t value?

Yes, you probably won't have to take the length of the cares into account, just consider them as points.

 

[willworkforfood]

Thanks for the help, figuring out what these dirty questions ask for is over half the battle :P

 

[TD]

Glad I could help. Strange that you encounter such troubles though, your English seems well enough

 

[willworkforfood]

I was pretty sure on the first two questions but I was guessing on the last one, I get overly worried and make stupid mistakes on these things usually

 

[Severian596]

The question "A speeder passes a parked police car at a constant speed of 39.3 m/s. At that instant the police car starts from rest with a uniform acceleration of 2.03m/s^2. How much time t in seconds passes before the speeder is overtaken by the police car?"

Just find how long it takes the cop to catch the bloody speeder!

 

[iNCREDiBLE]

Just find how long it takes the cop to catch the bloody speeder!

HAhAHa :rofl: