When will one car overtake the other? (acceleration,veolcity,time)

[drinkingstraw]

As a traffic light turns green, a waiting car starts with a constant acceleration of 6.0 m/s^2.At the instant the car begins to accelerate, a truck with a constant velcoity of 21 m/s pass in the next lane.

(a) How far will the car travel before it overtakes the truck?
(b) How fast will the car be traveling when it overtakes the truck?

Calculations (a) :

Car:
Vi = 0 m/s
Vf = ?
Acceleration = 6.0 m/s^2

Truck:
Vi = 21 m/s
Vf = 21 m/s
Acceleration = 0 m/s^2


* in order to figure out (a), the deltaD's of both the car and truck must be equal
- I'm not to sure if the deltaT will be the same but it seems as though the intial time is the same

This is all I know so far; I've been trying to sub in equations but nothing seems to work. Could someone please guide me in the right direction. Thanks :)

 

[CompuChip]

Can you write down equations for the distance covered by the car and the truck as a function of time?

 

[drinkingstraw]

Can you write down equations for the distance covered by the car and the truck as a function of time?

The equations I could use are:
deltaD = [(vi + vf)/2] x deltaT
delta D = vi x deltaT + 0.5 x acceleration x deltaT^2
deltaD = vf x deltaT - 0.5 x acceleration x deltaT^2
deltaD = (vf^2 - vi^2)/(2 x acceleration)

 

[CompuChip]

I suggest first calculating after what time the car overtakes the truck, so find the delta T.

For the truck, you know the average velocity and there is no acceleration. For the car, you know the acceleration and initial velocity. Which two of the four formulas do you think are useful then?

 

[drinkingstraw]

I suggest first calculating after what time the car overtakes the truck, so find the delta T.

For the truck, you know the average velocity and there is no acceleration. For the car, you know the acceleration and initial velocity. Which two of the four formulas do you think are useful then?

For the truck:
deltaD = [(vi + vf)/2] x deltaT

For the car:
delta D = vi x deltaT + 0.5 x acceleration x deltaT^2

Would I use these two?

 

[CompuChip]

What is vi for the car?
What equation to you get for deltaT?
What is its solution?

 

[drinkingstraw]

What is vi for the car?
What equation to you get for deltaT?
What is its solution?

For the truck:
deltaD = [(vi + vf)/2] x deltaT
deltaT = 2deltaD/(vi+vf)

For the car:
delta D = vi x deltaT + 0.5 x acceleration x deltaT^2
how would I rearrange this one?

*** how would I solve for these without knowing the deltaD value?

 

[CompuChip]

* in order to figure out (a), the deltaD's of both the car and truck must be equal

You will get a quadratic equation, which should be easy to solve because you already know one solution (the one you don't want).

 

[drinkingstraw]

You will get a quadratic equation, which should be easy to solve because you already know one solution (the one you don't want).

You said to first solve for time but in order to do so, the equations ask for a value for deltaD. Are you saying I would get a quadratic equation for time?

For the car:
deltaD = 3deltat^2

For the truck:
deltaD = 21deltat

Is this what I was supposed to do?

Next I changed the equations to deltaT = and then I put one equal to the other.

deltaD/3 = deltaD^2/21
= 441/3 = deltaD
= 147 m

Is this correct?