Question

A car is behind a truck going 23.0 m/s on the highway. The driver looks for an opportunity to pass, guessing that his car can accelerate at 2.2 m/s2, and he gauges that he has to cover the 24.0 m length of the truck, plus 10 m clear room at the rear of the truck and 10 m more at the front of it. In the oncoming lane, he sees a car approaching, probably traveling at the speed limit of 25 m/s. He estimates that the car is about 900.0 m away.
a) How long does it take the driver to complete the pass?

b) If x1 is the position of the driver, and x2 is the position of the oncoming car, what would be the value of separation distance (x2 - x1) at the end of a successful pass?

c) What would be the driver's speed at the end of the pass?
I am not sure what equations to use?




So, he has to go 44 m further than the truck in the same time. He has to do this before the car meets them.

900m= 25t + 23t +1/2 2.2 t^2
solve for t. check that.


I solved for the quadratic and calculated 14.157 seconds. This assignment is on-line, so I get instant feedback and was told that this answer was incorrect. Any explanation? Thank you so much for the help.