Question

A car is parked on a cliff overlooking the ocean on an incline that makes an angle of 25.0° below the horizontal. The negligent driver leaves the car in neutral, and the emergency brakes are defective. The car rolls from rest down the incline with a constant acceleration of 3.97 m/s2 for a distance of 55.0 m to the edge of the cliff, which is 40.0 m above the ocean. (a) Find the car's position relative to the base of the cliff when the car lands in the ocean. m (b) Find the length of time the car is in the air. s

Answer 1

PART (a):

Distance covered on incline, S = 55 m

Acceleration, a = 3.97 m/s²

Hence, Final speed (when it reaches the cliff) is given by:

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Time required to fall down a height of 40 m is given by:

Solving for time (quadratic equation), t = 2.0947 s

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Therefore horizontal distance traveled by the car (car's position relative to the base of the cliff when the car lands in the ocean) is given by:

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PART (b):

We have already found the time of car in air:

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