Virtual Lab: Stopping Distance of a Car Question: How can we determine the deceleration rate of a virtual car?

How does reaction time affect the stopping distance of a car? Go to this website:
http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/halliday/0471320005/simulations6e/index.htm?newwindow=true

and on the left side of the screen select Stopping Distance of a Car

Introduction: In this virtual experiment, a yellow sports car is coming to a stop from some initial velocity. On the left of the screen below the car you see a position vs. time and velocity vs. time graph of the motion. On the right of the screen below the car you are given lots of information about the cars motion: time, distance covered, speed, distance traveled before braking, distance traveled after braking, and total stopping distance. Follow the instructions for the lab and answer questions as you proceed. Instructions: 1. Load up the Java Lab from the website shown above. 2. On the left side of the screen select Stopping Distance of a Car 3. Before you start recording data for the lab, play around with the buttons at the bottom of the screen and see what they do. (Play, pause, reset, step back, step forward.) 4. When you feel comfortable, hit the clear trace button and go on to procedure 1. Procedure-Part 1 Reset/clear trace and have the initial speed is set at 80 km/hr, the reaction time is 0.10 s, and the coefficient of friction is equal to 1.00. Do not run the simulation and answer the questions below: Analysis-Part 1 1. Convert 80 km/hr into m/s. (The graphs are in meters and seconds!) Show math. Ans. 80*1000/3600 m/s = 22.22 m/s

2. Where do you see this speed in m/s confirmed on your screen? Ans. Right hand side on the speed button 3. If the reaction time is 0.10 s, how far will the car travel before hitting the brakes? Show math. Ans: 0.10s *22.22 m/s = 2.22m

4. Where do you see this distance you just calculated confirmed on your screen? Ans. On the RHS in Distance travelled before braking

5. If the ultimate goal of the car is to come to a stop and they tell you the distance traveled after braking, can you calculate the deceleration rate of the car? Show math. Ans. Yes. (Final velocity initial velocity)/time (22.22 -0)/2.4 = 9.25 m/s2

Procedure-Part 2 Now with the initial speed set at 80 km/hr, the reaction time at 0.10 s, and the coefficient of friction equal to 1.00, run the simulation and answer the questions below: Analysis-Part 2 6. Looking at the position vs. time graph, describe the motion of the yellow car. Initially the distance travelled increase with increase with time then a the brakes are applied the distance graph flattens constant at around 27 m. 7. Looking at the velocity vs. time graph, describe the motion of the yellow car. Initially velocity was high as time passes velocity decreases and finally ends at 0m/s 8. What is the slope of the velocity vs. time graph? Show math. Ans. -22.22/ 2.40 = -9.25

9. What does slope represent on a velocity vs. time graph? Ans. Deceleration 10. Make a screenshot of your entire screen and paste it on a word processing document that you can add to as this lab proceeds on. (Use the Print Screen button to copy your screen and the Paint program to cut out only the portion you want to copy.) All of the graphs you make for this lab should be able to fit on one piece of paper. Only hit print when you have completed the lab entirely.

Procedure-Part 3 Reset/clear trace and have the initial speed is set at 100 km/hr, the reaction time is 0.10 s, and the coefficient of friction is equal to 1.00. Run the simulation and answer the questions below: Analysis-Part 3 11. Convert 100 km/hr into m/s. (The graphs are in meters and seconds!) Show math. Ans. 100*5/18 m/s = 27.77m/s

12. If the reaction time is 0.10 s, how far will the car travel before hitting the brakes? Show math. Ans. 0.10*27.77 = 2.78 m 13. If the ultimate goal of the car is to come to a stop and they tell you the distance traveled after braking, can you calculate the deceleration rate of the car? Show math. Ans. (27.7- 0)/2.95 = 9.41 m/s2 14. What is the slope of the velocity vs. time graph when you run the simulation? Show math. Ans. -27.78/2.95 = 9.41 15. Make a screenshot of your entire screen and paste it on a word processing document that you can add to as this lab proceeds on. (Use the Print Screen button to copy your screen and the Paint program to cut out only the portion you want to copy.) All of the graphs you make for this lab should be able to fit on one piece of paper. Only hit print when you have completed the lab entirely.

Procedure-Part 4 Reset/clear trace and have the initial speed is set at any value except 80 or 100, the reaction time is 0.10 s, and the coefficient of friction is equal to 1.00. Run the simulation and answer the questions below: Analysis-Part 4 16. Convert your selected velocity from km/hr into m/s. (The graphs are in meters and seconds!) Show math. Ans. 50km/hr = 50*5/18m/s = 13.8 m/s

17. If the reaction time is 0.10 s, how far will the car travel before hitting the brakes? Show math. Ans. 0.10 * 13.8 = 1.38m

18. If the ultimate goal of the car is to come to a stop and they tell you the distance traveled after braking, can you calculate the deceleration rate of the car? Show math. Ans. (13.8-0)/1.55 = 8.96 m/s2

19. What is the slope of the velocity vs. time graph when you run the simulation? Show math. Ans. -13.8/1.55 = 8.96

20. You now have calculated the acceleration of the yellow car three times (analysis questions 5, 13, and 18). Please calculate the average deceleration rate of the car (show math): Ans. 8.96+9.41+9.25 / 3 = 9.2 m/s2

21. Make a screenshot of your entire screen and paste it on a word processing document that you can add to as this lab proceeds on. (Use the Print Screen button to copy your screen and the Paint program to cut out only the portion you want to copy.) All of the

graphs you make for this lab should be able to fit on one piece of paper. Only hit print when you have completed the lab entirely.

Procedure-Part 5 Hit Reset and Clear Trace. Using the slider under the velocity, change the velocity back to 80 km/hr and the reaction time to 0.50 s. Hit the Play button, watch what happens, and answer the questions in the next section. Analysis-Part 5 22. If the reaction time is 0.50 s, how far will the car travel before hitting the brakes? Show math. Ans. 0.50* 22.22 = 11.11m

23. If the ultimate goal of the car is to come to a stop and they tell you the distance traveled after braking, can you calculate the deceleration rate of the car? Show math. Ans. 24. Did the deceleration rate change? Ans. 25. Now what is the total stopping distance, and how does this compare to the total distance traveled from part 1? Ans. 36.30 27.42 = 8.88 m more this time

26. Make a screenshot of your entire screen and paste it on a word processing document that you can add to as this lab proceeds on. (Use the Print Screen button to copy your

screen and the Paint program to cut out only the portion you want to copy.) All of the graphs you make for this lab should be able to fit on one piece of paper.

Conclusion-Answer the questions found under the title for this lab. Use complete sentences! Deceleration rate is calculated from graph of velocity vs time as its slope, or by the above mentioned formula. Reaction time is directly proportional to stopping distance of the car all other things equal.