10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

PSS2.1:Can'tHittheCan!

LearningGoal:
TopracticeProblemSolvingStrategy2.1forproblemsinvolvingkinematicswithconstantacceleration.

Acaristravelingataconstantvelocityofmagnitudev 0 whenthedrivernoticesagarbagecanontheroadinfrontofhim.Atthat
moment,thedistancebetweenthegarbagecanandthefrontofthecarisd.Atimetr afternoticingthegarbagecan,thedriver
appliesthebrakesandslowsdownataconstantratebeforecomingtoahaltjustbeforethegarbagecan.Whatisthemagnitude
ofthecar'saccelerationafterthebrakesareapplied?

MODEL:Usetheparticlemodel.Makeotherappropriatesimplifyingassumptions.

VISUALIZE:Usedifferentrepresentationsoftheinformationintheproblem.

Drawamotiondiagram.Motiondiagramsarepartofthephysicalrepresentation.
Drawapictorialrepresentation.Thishelpsyouassesstheinformationyouaregivenandstartstheprocessof
translatingthatinformationintomathematicalsymbols.
Useagraphicalrepresentationifappropriatefortheproblem.
Gobackandforthbetweenthesethreerepresentationsasneeded.

SOLVE:Themathematicalrepresentationisbasedonthethreekinematicequations

vf = v is + at ,

1 2
sf = si + vis t + as (t) ,
2

and

v
2
fs
= v
2
is
+ 2as s .

Usexory,asappropriatetotheproblem,ratherthanthegenerics.
Ifnecessary,replacesubscriptsiandfwithnumericalsubscriptsdefinedinthepictorialrepresentation.
Recallthat,foruniformmotionwithconstantvelocity,as = 0.

ASSESS:Isyourresultbelievable?Doesithaveappropriateunits?Doesitmakesense?

Model
Startbymakingsimplifyingassumptionsappropriateforthesituation.

PartA
Thecarshouldbetreatedas

ANSWER:

asolidmacroscopicobjectofcertainshapeandsize.

apointlikeparticle.

athinstraightline.

Correct

Visualize

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D
Nowdrawamotiondiagramandpictorialrepresentation,includingalltheelementslistedintheproblemsolvingstrategy.Use
yoursketchtoanswerthefollowingquestions.

PartB
Considertheincompletepictorialrepresentationshownhere:.
Missingfromthisfigurearethearrowsrepresentingthe
accelerationofthecarforthetwodifferentsegmentsofthe
motion.Thesearrowsshouldappearbelowthesymbolsa0x and
a1x .

Foreachsegmentofthemotion,indicatewhethertheacceleration
ofthecarshouldbedrawnaspointingtotheright,aspointingto
theleft,orashavingzeromagnitude(andthereforenodirection).
EnterRforright,Lforleft,or0foreachofthetwo
accelerations.Separateyourtwoanswerswithacomma.

ANSWER:

0,L

AnswerRequested
Thelistofknownandunknownquantitiesarealsomissingfromthediagram.You'llneedtofiguretheseoutforyourself
beforeyougoon.

PartC
Whichdiagramcorrectlyshowsposition,velocity,andaccelerationofthemovingcarafterthebrakesareapplied?

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

Correct

PartD
Diagram(a)inthepreviouspartisincorrectbecauseitleadstowhichofthefollowingincorrectconclusionsaboutthemotion
ofthecar?
Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

Thecarismovingatconstantspeed.

Thecarisspeedingup.

Thecarisnotmovinginastraightline.

Thedirectionofaccelerationofthecardoesnotagreewiththevelocityvectors.

Theaccelerationofthecarisdecreasing.

Theaccelerationofthecarisincreasing.

Theaccelerationofthecarischangingdirection.

Correct

PartE
Ofthefollowinglistofvariables,whichrepresentknownquantities?
Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

x1

v1

t1

x2

v2

t2

AnswerRequested
AmongtheothervariablesinthepictorialrepresentationprovidedinPartB,v 0 isaknownquantityandyoucan
assumethatx0 = 0andt0 = 0.

Solve
Nowusetheinformationandtheinsightsthatyouhaveaccumulatedtoconstructthenecessarymathematicalexpressionsand
toderivethesolution.

PartF
Finda1 ,themagnitudeoftheaccelerationofthecar.
Expressthemagnitudeoftheaccelerationintermsofthevariablesgivenintheproblemintroduction:d,tr ,andv 0 .
Youmayormaynotuseallofthem.

Hint1.Findthedistancetraveled
Whenyouworkedonthepreviousparts,youmusthaverealizedthat,afterthedriverfirstnoticestheobstacle,the
carmovesuniformlyandthenundergoesanegativeaccelerationbeforecomingtoahalt.Findthedistancex2 x1
coveredbythecarafterthebrakesareapplied.
Expressyouranswerintermsofthegivenquantities.Youmayormaynotuseallofthem.
ANSWER:

x2 x1 = d v0 tr

AnswerRequested

Hint2.Whichequationtouse
Youcanusetheequation
v
2
fs
= v . 2
is
+ 2as s

Don'tforgettochangethesymbolsaccordingtoyourpictorialandphysicalrepresentations.

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

2
v0
a1 =
2(dv0 t r )

AnswerRequested

Assess
Whenyouworkonaproblemonyourown,withoutthecomputerprovidedfeedback,onlyyoucanassesswhetheryouranswer
seemsright.Thefollowingquestionswillhelpyoupracticetheskillsnecessaryforsuchanassessment.

PartG
Whichofthefollowingalgebraicexpressionshavethedimensionsofacceleration?
Checkallthatapply.

ANSWER:

2
v
0

d3v0 t r

2
v
0

d+2v0 t r

2
v t
0

2
dv0 t r

2
(v )d
0

2
(dv0 t r )

3v 0 /t r

AnswerRequested

PartH
Imagineasituationexactlyasgivenintheproblemintroductionexceptthatthedrivercontinuesforalongertimebetween
noticingthecanandhittingthebrakes.Ifheisstilltostopjustbeforehittingthecan,howwouldthemagnitudeofhis
accelerationcomparetothatderivedintheSolvestepabove?
ANSWER:

Itwouldbethesame.

Itwouldbegreater.

Itwouldbesmaller.

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 1: Motion in 1-D

Correct
Fromtheansweryouderived,youcanseethatiftr increases,thenthemagnitudeoftheaccelerationwillincrease.Of
course,thedrivercannotwaitsolongbeforehittingthebrakesthatv 0 tr > dotherwisehewillalreadyhavecollided
withthecan.

PartI
Imagineasituationexactlyasgivenintheproblemintroductionexceptthatthedrivernoticesthegarbagecanfromfarther
away.Ifheisstilltostopjustbeforehittingthecan,howwouldthemagnitudeofhisaccelerationcomparetothatderivedin
theSolvestepabove?
ANSWER:

Itwouldbethesame.

Itwouldbegreater.

Itwouldbesmaller.

Correct
Fromtheansweryouderived,youcanseethatifdincreases,thenthemagnitudeoftheaccelerationwilldecrease.

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