Question

an automobile engineer found that the impact of a truck colliding at 16 km/h with a concrete pillar caused the bumper to indent only 6.4 cm. The truck stopped. Determine the acceleration.

Answer 1

To find the acceleration we are given two facts to begin. The impact at 16 km/h and the dent of 6.4 cm, or 0.064 meters. In solving the problem uniform acceleration is assumed, which would mean the avg speed during the impact was 8 km/hr by taking 16/2. We know distance = rate*time (d=r*t) . So t = d / r, so 0.64/8 = 0.008hr for t. Now we can solve for acceleration by taking a = 16 / 0.008 = 2000 km/hr.