Constant acceleration: A speeding car is traveling at a constant 30.0 m/s when it passes a stationary police car. If the police car delays for 1.00 s before starting, what must be the magnitude of the constant acceleration of the police car to catch the speeding car after the police car travels a distance of 300 m? A) 6.00 m/s² B) 3.00 m/s² C) 7.41 m/s² D) 1.45 m/s² E) 3.70 m/s²

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

First, we need to use the equation:
distance = initial velocity x time + 0.5 x acceleration x time²
to find the time taken by the speeding car to travel a distance of 300m:
300 = 30 x t + 0.5 x 0 x t²
t = 10 s

The police car starts after a delay of 1.0 s, which means it has to catch up to the speeding car within 9.0 s.
Using the same equation again for the police car, we have:
300 = 0 x t + 0.5 x a x (t-1)²
300 = 0.5 x a x 64
a = 7.41 m/s²

Therefore, the correct answer is C) 7.41 m/s².

Constant Acceleration: a Speeding Car Is Traveling at a Constant