Question

How does kinetic energy affect the stopping distance of a vehicle traveling at 30 mph compared to the same vehicle traveling 60 Mph

Answer 1

The more kinetic energy an object has, the larger velocity it has if the mass holds constant. Therefore, unless the stopping force is larger for a vehicle of higher kinetic energy with the same mass, than under constant acceleration, the stopping distance of a vehicle traveling at higher velocities would be greater than the stopping distance of a vehicle traveling at lower velocities.


Mathematically, if we call the deceleration
`a` and the time to decelerate for the car traveling at 30mph is
`t`, than
`30\text{mph} - \text{at} = 0`, than it is obvious that the 60mph car requires
`2t`, therefore the deceleration would total
`2at`. Using a kinematic equation, we see that
`30t + (1)/(2)at^2 \ \textless \ 120t + 2at^2`.