10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

OvercomingaHeadStart

CarsAandBareracingeachotheralongthesamestraightroadinthefollowingmanner:CarAhasaheadstartandisa
distanceDA beyondthestartinglineatt = 0 .Thestartinglineisatx = 0.CarAtravelsataconstantspeedv A .CarBstarts
atthestartinglinebuthasabetterenginethanCarA,andthusCarBtravelsataconstantspeedv B ,whichisgreaterthanv A .

PartA
HowlongafterCarBstartedtheracewillCarBcatchupwithCarA?
Expressthetimeintermsofgivenquantities.

Hint1.Considerthekinematicsrelation
WriteanexpressionforthedisplacementofCarAfromthestartinglineatatimetafterCarBstarts.(Notethatwe
aretakingthistimetobet = 0 .)
Answerintermsofv A ,v B ,DA ,andtfortime,andtakex = 0 atthestartingline.

Hint1.WhatistheaccelerationofCarA?
TheaccelerationofCarAiszero,sothegeneralformulax(t) = x0 + v 0 t + (1/2)at
2
hasatleastoneterm
equaltozero.

ANSWER:

xA (t) = DA + v A t

Hint2.Whatistherelationbetweenthepositionsofthetwocars?
Thepositionsofthetwocarsareequalattimetcatch .

Hint3.ConsiderCarB'spositionasafunctionoftime
WritedownanexpressionforthepositionofCarBattimetafterstarting.
Giveyouranswerintermsofanyvariablesneeded(usetfortime).
ANSWER:

xB (t) = vB t

ANSWER:

D
t catch = A

vB vA

AnswerRequested

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

PartB
HowfarfromCarB'sstartinglinewillthecarsbewhenCarBpassesCarA?
Expressyouranswerintermsofknownquantities.(Youmayusetcatch aswell.)

Hint1.Whichexpressionshouldyouuse?
Justuseyourexpressionforthepositionofeithercaraftertimet = 0 ,andsubstituteinthecorrectvaluefortcatch
(foundinthepreviouspart).

ANSWER:

dpass = v B t catch

AnswerRequested

https://session.masteringphysics.com/myct/itemView?view=print&assignmentProblemID=83957171 2/2