Solve Rolling Staple Gun Homework Problem

[maxwellsmooth]

Homework Statement

An assembly line has a staple gun that rolls to the left at 1.0 m/s while the parts to be stapled roll past it to the right at 3.0 m/s. The staple gun fires 10 staples per second. How far apart are the staples?

Homework Equations

I am lost but I still came up with an answer.

The Attempt at a Solution

sq rt of ((1.0 m/s)^2+(3.0m/s)^2)

I got 3.16 m/s

So because there are 10 staples per second there are 0.32 meters between each staple.

PLEASE HELP..Thanks in advance.

 

[w3390]

I'm not sure why you took the square root of the sum of two squares. I believe an easy way to do this is to take the frame of the parts. From the parts point of view, the stapler is moving past it a 4 m/s. Since you know the speed the stapler is moving and how fast the stapler shoots, you can find the distance per staple.