Question

A car traveling at a constant speed of 21.0 m/s passes a trooper hidden behind a billboard. One second after the speeding car passes the billboard, the trooper sets off in chase with a constant acceleration of 2.80 m/s2. How long does it take the trooper to overtake the speeding car? Solve this problem by a graphical method. On the same graph, plot position versus time for the car and the trooper.WebAssign PlotWebAssign PlotWebAssign PlotWebAssign PlotCorrect: Your answer is correct.From the intersection of the two curves, read the time at which the trooper overtakes the car._____ s

Answer 1

We are asked to determine the time it takes for the trooper to overtake the car. Since we are asked to determine the time using the graph we need to determine the time where the 2 graphs intercept, like this:

Therefore, it takes 16 seconds for the trooper to overtake the car.