- #1
Skizye
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Hi, I've been stuck on this problem for a bit and I am not really sure how to go about solving it.
As a traffic light turns green, a waiting car starts with a constant acceleration of 6.0 m/s². At the instant the car begins to accelerate, a truck with a constant velocity of 21 m/s passes 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?
So far, all we have been working with in class are these:
[tex] v = v_0 + a t [/tex]
[tex] v^2 = v_0^2 + 2 a (x - x_0)[/tex]
[tex] x = x_0 + v_0 t + (1/2)a t^2 [/tex]
I've tried several different angles for this problem, but so far I haven't been able to solve for any of the variables besides the ones given in the problem.
I set up my variable table
Car
v =
[tex]v_0 = 0 m/s [/tex]
[tex]x - x_0 = ___[/tex]
a = 6.0 m/s²
t =
Truck
v = 21 m/s
[tex]v_0 = 21 m/s[/tex]
[tex]x - x_0 = ___[/tex]
a = 0 m/s
t =
I tried guessing and checking numbers for t but that is probably not the cleanest way to solve this problem, if it's even possible to do at all. I'm not really sure how to solve for any of the variables here, any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Homework Statement
As a traffic light turns green, a waiting car starts with a constant acceleration of 6.0 m/s². At the instant the car begins to accelerate, a truck with a constant velocity of 21 m/s passes 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?
Homework Equations
So far, all we have been working with in class are these:
[tex] v = v_0 + a t [/tex]
[tex] v^2 = v_0^2 + 2 a (x - x_0)[/tex]
[tex] x = x_0 + v_0 t + (1/2)a t^2 [/tex]
The Attempt at a Solution
I've tried several different angles for this problem, but so far I haven't been able to solve for any of the variables besides the ones given in the problem.
I set up my variable table
Car
v =
[tex]v_0 = 0 m/s [/tex]
[tex]x - x_0 = ___[/tex]
a = 6.0 m/s²
t =
Truck
v = 21 m/s
[tex]v_0 = 21 m/s[/tex]
[tex]x - x_0 = ___[/tex]
a = 0 m/s
t =
I tried guessing and checking numbers for t but that is probably not the cleanest way to solve this problem, if it's even possible to do at all. I'm not really sure how to solve for any of the variables here, any help would be appreciated, thanks!