What is the minimum safe following distance at highway speeds?

[Alexis Cooper]

Homework Statement

you are driving at highway speeds of 32m/s. The car in front of you suddenly brakes with an acceleration of 1.86 m/s^2. If your car can brake with an acceleration of 1.76m/s^2. What is the minimum following distance that you need before the braking in order to avoid a collision?

Homework Equations

i down know if this is the right approach or if I am completely off

The Attempt at a Solution

car 1: 32/1.86= 17.204 s
car:2 32/1.76= 18.18s
18.18-17.204=.976s
(.976)(32)=31.232 meters away?[/B]

 

[SteamKing]

There's a big difference between a car 'breaking' and a car 'braking'.

 

[Alexis Cooper]

There's a big difference between a car 'breaking' and a car 'braking'.

'brake' it was a typo

 

[bigfooted]

Your final computation is wrong. Do you know why?

How much distance does the first car travel in 17.402 seconds?
How much distance does the second car travel in 18.18 seconds?