Question

A 1400 kg aircraft going 40 m/s collides with a 1500 kg aircraft that is parked and they stick together after the collision and are going 19.3 m/s after the collision. If they skid for 7 seconds before stopping, how far did they skid? Hint: Are the aircraft moving at a constant velocity after the collision or do they experience an acceleration?

Answer 1

Answer:

67.6 m

Explanation:

For this problem, we just need to analyze the motion of the two planes after the collision.

The two planes stick together and move with a velocity of

u = 19.3 m/s

The problem tells us that they skid until they stop: so, their final velocity is

v = 0

Since the velocity is not constant, this means that they are accelerating.

We also know that they skid for a time of

t = 7 s

Therefore, we can find their stopping distance using the following suvat equation

$s=(\frac{u+v}{2})t$

And substituting, we find

$s=(\frac{0+19.3}{2})(7)=67.6 m$