Final answer:
A truck takes longer to come to a stop in adverse weather conditions, due to factors like reduced friction and longer braking distances, compounded by the driver's reaction time.
Step-by-step explanation:
In adverse weather conditions, a truck takes significantly longer to come to a stop due to decreased friction and increased braking distance. To calculate stopping distance, factors such as the driver's reaction time, initial velocity, and deceleration rate must be considered. A truck takes longer to come to a stop in adverse weather conditions due to reduced traction and increased stopping distance.
When assessing how long it takes for a truck to stop, especially in adverse weather conditions, several factors come into play. Initial conditions include the truck's speed, which is given as a constant velocity of 10 m/s, and the driver's reaction time, which is assumed to be 0.5 seconds. Once the driver perceives the need to stop, such as seeing an obstacle or a traffic light changing to red, his reaction time leads to a delay before he applies the brakes, and during this time, the truck travels at a constant speed. For example, with a reaction time of 0.5 seconds and a vehicle speed of 30.0 m/s, the distance covered during the reaction time would be 15 meters (30.0 m/s × 0.5 s).
This reaction distance must be added to the actual braking distance, which depends on the deceleration rate. On dry concrete, a typical deceleration might be 7.00 m/s², whereas on wet concrete, it could drop to 5.00 m/s². This lower deceleration rate on wet surfaces means that it takes a longer distance for the vehicle to stop. Using physics formulas for linear motion, distances can be calculated assuming uniform deceleration. To determine whether a truck will hit an obstacle 50 meters away when braking with a deceleration of -1.25 m/s² and the aforementioned reaction time, we need to calculate the total distance needed to stop taking into account the speed, deceleration, and reaction time.