A truck, carrying a sheet of plywood, accelerates at 1.8 m/s2. When the truck's speed reaches 20 m/s, the sheet of plywood falls off the back of the truck. The truck continues to accelerate forward at 1.8 m/s2, but the plywood slides on the road with an acceleration of -0.85 m/s2. What is the distance between the truck and the piece of plywood 5.0 seconds after the plywood falls off the truck?
2007-10-10 12:53:06 · 1 answers · asked by alkesh831 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The equation for distance under constant acceleration is:
D = V0 x T + (1/2) x A x T^2
The truck and the plywood sheet start off with the same initial velocity.
The truck accelerates with A = 1.8 m/s^2 so you can compute how far it has traveled after T = 5 seconds.
The plywood also continues moving forward, but its acceleration A is -0.85 m/s^2 so you can compute how far it has traveled after 5 seconds.
Since they started at the same place, their distance after 5 seconds must be the difference in the distances they traveled.
2007-10-14 12:53:46 · answer #1 · answered by simplicitus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋