Question

A car traveling at a constant speed of 125 km/hr passes a trooper hidden behind a billboard. One second after the speeding car passes the billboard, the trooper sets in a chase after the car with a constant acceleration of 2.7 m/s^2. How far does the trooper travel before he overtakes the speeding car?

I'm pretty sure that I need to solve for time using d = 1/2at^2, but the "one second after" part of this problem throws me off.

Answer 1

125 km/hr *1 hr/3600 s * 1000m/km =
34.7 m/s
the car travels t+1 seconds
so the car goes
d =34.7 * (t+1) = 34.7 t + 34.7 meters
the trooper travels the same distance in t seconds
d = 0 + 0t + (1/2)(2.7)t^2
so
34.7 t + 34.7 = 1.35 t^2
1.35 t^2 - 34.7 t - 34.7 = 0
solve quadratic, use solution that makes sense.

Answer 2

Thanks. :)