Question

A traffic accident detective measures the skid marks left by a car, 825kg. He determines that the distance between the point that the driver slammed on the brakes and the point where the car came to a stop was 34.0 m. From a reference manual he determines that the coefficient of kinetic friction between the tires and the road under the prevailing conditions was 0.300. How fast was the car going when the driver applied the brakes? (This car was not equipped with anti-lock brakes.

Answer 1

Doing a force balance on the car:
ma = Fr
ma = μmg
a = μg
a = 0.3(9.81)
a = 29.43 m/s2

Using the formula:
2ax = v2
2(29.43)(34) = v2
v = 44.74 m/s = 161.05 km/h

The car was going 44.74 m/s or 161.05 kph when the brakes were applied.