Physics for Scientists and Engineers 3rd Edition by Randall Knight, Chapter 1 Exercise and Problems 1


A car skids to a halt to avoid hitting an object in the road. Draw a basic motion diagram, using the images from the movie, from the time the skid begins until the car is stopped.


Solution:

Model

Imagine a car moving in the positive direction (i.e., to the right). As it skids, it covers less distance between each movie frame (or between each snapshot).

Solve

Assess

As we go from left to right, the distance between successive images of the car decreases. Because the time interval between each successive image is the same, the car must be slowing down.


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