Question

You are an insurance investigator trying to figure out if a driver making an insurance claim was exceeding the speed limit before a collision. Driver A has a car of mass mA, which slammed into Car B (mass mB) which was at rest at a stop sign before the collision. The two cars locked their bumpers during the collision. From the damage, you estimate that the collision speed was v_hit. You can tell from marks at the scene of the accident that car A skidded with locked brakes a distance L before the collision, and the two cars together skidded a distance l after the collision. You look up the coefficient of kinetic friciton between the tires of both car A and B and the road surface (mu_k). With this information, calculate v_o, the speed car A was travelling when driver A hit their brakes.

Answer 1

Car a has mass mi slammed nto car & ol mass m Cara skidded ui th brake, Tor a distance L; both cavs skid a distance L ㅘ mANnr-(mam) e i s the from don Serv a kon momentum, A hit c Com bined veloah alte collision, ith this Veloaty they skid a d; stance so fom energy uahon , an uahon Vh:t rm