To avoid skidding while driving a car, you need to know what a safe stopping distance is. Assume you are traveling on a dry road and have an average reaction time.
The formula f(x) = 0.044x2 + 1.1x gives you a safe stopping distance in feet, where x is your speed in miles per hour.
1. Make a table of values for speeds of 10, 20 30, 40, 50 and 60 mi/h.
Suppose a car left a skid mark of d feet long. The above formulas will estimate the speed s in miles per hour at which the car was traveling when the brakes were applied.
1. Complete the Table:
Dry road
Wet road
60 feet
40.2m/h
28.46m/h
120 feet
56.9m/h
40.25m/h
2. Why do you think the estimates of speed do not double when the skid marks double in length?
Because the cars have different speed in wet roads than dry roads so, the speed will not double when the skid makes double in length .
2. Based on these results, what conclusions can you make about a safe following distance?
The car will move faster on the dry road than the wet road .