Car Chase
A car (c) with one headlight burned
out is traveling at a constant speed of 18 m/s and passes a stopped
police car (p). The car is pursued
immediately by the police cruiser, which has a constant acceleration
of magnitude 2.2 m/s2.
(a) How far does the police cruiser travel before catching the
other car?
(b) At what time will this occur? (Hint: Graphing
may help to visualize this problem.)
The three graphs show distance (d) vs. time (t), velocity (v) vs. time, and acceleration (a) vs. time for the car and the police car.
The cruiser catches up with the car at time:
(a) t1
(b) t2