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A roadrunner at rest suddenly spots a rattlesnake slithering directly away at a constant speed of 0.75 m/s. At the moment the snake is 10. M
Question
A roadrunner at rest suddenly spots a rattlesnake slithering directly away at a constant speed of 0.75 m/s. At the moment the snake is 10. Meters from the bird, the roadrunner starts chasing it with a constant acceleration of 1.0 m/s^2. How long will it take the roadrunner to catch up to the snake?
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Physics
3 years
2021-07-29T19:35:31+00:00
2021-07-29T19:35:31+00:00 1 Answers
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Answer:
The roadrunner will take approximately 5.285 seconds to catch up to the rattlesnake.
Explanation:
From the statement we notice that:
1) Rattlesnake moves a constant speed (), whereas the roadrunner accelerates uniformly from rest. (, )
2) Initial distance between the roadrunner and rattlesnake is 10 meters. (, )
3) The roadrunner catches up to the snake at the end. ()
Now we construct kinematic expression for each animal:
Rattlesnake
Where:
– Initial position of the rattlesnake, measured in meters.
– Final position of the rattlesnake, measured in meters.
– Speed of the rattlesnake, measured in meters per second.
– Time, measured in seconds.
Roadrunner
Where:
– Initial position of the roadrunner, measured in meters.
– Final position of the roadrunner, measured in meters.
– Initial speed of the roadrunner, measured in meters per second.
– Acceleration of the roadrunner, measured in meters per square second.
– Time, measured in seconds.
By eliminating the final positions of both creatures, we get the resulting quadratic function:
If we know that , , , and , the resulting expression is:
We can find its root via Quadratic Formula:
Roots are and , respectively. Both are valid mathematically, but only the first one is valid physically. Hence, the roadrunner will take approximately 5.285 seconds to catch up to the rattlesnake.