A motorist travels at a constant speed of 37.0 m/s through a school zone, exceeding the posted speed limit. A policeman waits 7.0 s before giving chase at an acceleration of 3.2 m/s2.

Question

I have solved that it will take 36 seconds for the cop to catch up to the car. However, I am not sure how to set up the equation for solving for distance if both cars have different accelerations. Any detailed help would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

if the motorist is going 37,
distnace=37*time

where the time for the car is 36+7, right?

Answer 2

So if I did my calculation right distance should equal 37 times 43 (36+7) which would equal 1591. Correct?

Answer 3

t=23.78+7=30.78s
x=1046.75m