You are called as an expert witness in a trial for a traffic violation. The facts are these: A driver slammed on his brakes and came to a stop with constant acceleration. Measurements of his tires and the skid marks on the pavement indicate that he locked his car’s wheels, the car traveled 192 ft before stopping, and the coefficient of kinetic friction between the road and his tires was 0.750. He was charged with speeding in a 45-mi/h zone but pleads innocent. What is your conclusion: guilty or innocent? How fast was he going when he hit his brakes?

Answer :

Answer:

[tex] v_i = \sqrt{2*24.2 ft/s^2 *192 ft}= 96.40 ft/s[/tex]

And we can convert this speed to mi/h and we got:

[tex] v_i = 96.4 ft/s * 0.305 m/ft * 0.001 km/m * 0.621 mi/km *3600 s/h = 65.73 mi/h[/tex]Explanation:

For this case we know the following info given:

[tex] d = 192 ft[/tex] represent the distance

[tex]v_f =0 ft/s[/tex] represent the final velocity

[tex] \mu = 0.75[/tex] represent the kinetic friction coefficient

[tex] v_{max}= 45 mi/h[/tex] the maximum velocity

For this case from the second Law of newton we have that:

[tex] F_{net} = ma[/tex]

Assuming that we have just the friction acting we have:

[tex] - F_f = ma[/tex]

[tex] -\mu N = -\mu mg= ma[/tex]

[tex] a= -\mu g[/tex]

And replacing we have:

[tex] a = -32.2 ft/s^2 *0.75=-24.15 ft/s^2[/tex]

From kinematics we know that:

[tex] v^2_f = v^2_i +2ad[/tex]

And solving for the initial velocity we got:

[tex] v_i = \sqrt{2*24.2 ft/s^2 *192 ft}= 96.40 ft/s[/tex]

And we can convert this speed to mi/h and we got:

[tex] v_i = 96.4 ft/s * 0.305 m/ft * 0.001 km/m * 0.621 mi/km *3600 s/h = 65.73 mi/h[/tex]

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