To demonstrate the tremendous acceleration of a top fuel dragracer, you attempt to run your car into the back of a dragster thatis "burning out" at the red light before the start of a race.(Burning out means spinning the tires at high speed to heat thetread and make the rubber sticky.)
You drive at a constant speed of toward the stopped dragster, notslowing down in the face of the imminent collision. The dragsterdriver sees you coming but waits until the last instant to put downthe hammer, accelerating from the starting line at constantacceleration, . Let the time at which the dragster starts toaccelerate be .
a- What is , the longest time after the dragster begins toaccelerate that you can possibly run into the back of the dragsterif you continue at your initial velocity?
b- Assuming that the dragster has started at the last instantpossible (so your front bumper almost hits the rear of the dragsterat ), find your distance from the dragster when he started. If youcalculate positions on the way to this solution, choose coordinatesso that the position of the drag car is 0 at . Remember that youare solving for a distance (which is a magnitude, and can never benegative), not a position (which can be negative).
c- Find numerical values for and in seconds and meters for the(reasonable) values (26.8 m/s) and .
Separate your two numerical answers by commas, and give your answerto two significant figures.
To demonstrate the tremendous acceleration of a top fuel dragracer, you attempt to run your car into the back of a dragster thatis "burning out" at the red light before the start of a race.(Burning out means spinning the tires at high speed to heat thetread and make the rubber sticky.)
You drive at a constant speed of toward the stopped dragster, notslowing down in the face of the imminent collision. The dragsterdriver sees you coming but waits until the last instant to put downthe hammer, accelerating from the starting line at constantacceleration, . Let the time at which the dragster starts toaccelerate be .
a- What is , the longest time after the dragster begins toaccelerate that you can possibly run into the back of the dragsterif you continue at your initial velocity?
b- Assuming that the dragster has started at the last instantpossible (so your front bumper almost hits the rear of the dragsterat ), find your distance from the dragster when he started. If youcalculate positions on the way to this solution, choose coordinatesso that the position of the drag car is 0 at . Remember that youare solving for a distance (which is a magnitude, and can never benegative), not a position (which can be negative).
c- Find numerical values for and in seconds and meters for the(reasonable) values (26.8 m/s) and .
Separate your two numerical answers by commas, and give your answerto two significant figures.
