Final answer:
Overdriving your headlights is when your stopping distance exceeds the illuminated range of your headlights at night, creating a safety hazard. A 12-V car battery with 100 Ah capacity can power two 40-W headlights for a specific duration. Headlights connected with superconductive wires wouldn't dim upon engine start due to the absence of voltage drop.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term 'overdriving your headlights' refers to a situation while driving at night where you are moving so fast that your stopping distance is beyond the range of your headlights. This means if an obstacle appears within the range of your headlights, you won't have enough time to stop safely before you reach it. This concept is similar to overloading a circuit with too many lights, reducing the output voltage and causing the lights to dim, or overexposing a photograph where too much light results in a loss of detail.
To calculate how long car headlights will stay on, you can use the battery’s ampere-hour rating and the power of the headlights. For instance, a 12-V battery rated at 100 Ah can theoretically run two 12-V headlights rated at 40 W each for a certain amount of time before the battery is fully drained.
If the car had superconductors for wires and the battery's internal resistance wasn't neglected, the headlights would not dim when starting the engine, unlike a typical scenario, where the lights dim due to voltage drops across regular conductive wires.