Braking Distance Math Problem

Question

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If the braking distance of a medium sized car that is going at 50 miles per hour, it's braking disatnce is about 200 feet.

Does it take twice as far to stop a car that is going twice as fast? Explain. Thanks. Please help.

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Best Answer

Energy is half the mass times the square of the velocity.

$$2^2=4$$ (This 2 represents the (doubling) increase in velocity)

Disregarding other considerations, it will take 4 times the distance.

7up

SevenUP Jul 15, 2014

SevenUP · Answer 1 · 2014-07-15T11:19:13

Energy is half the mass times the square of the velocity.

$$2^2=4$$ (This 2 represents the (doubling) increase in velocity)

Disregarding other considerations, it will take 4 times the distance.

7up

DragonSlayer554 · Answer 2 · 2014-07-15T11:21:11

Thanks, 7UP. So, it is 4 times the distance for the car to come into a complete stop?

NinjaDevo · Answer 3 · 2014-07-16T01:03:07

This is so funny, I learned this exact same thing is drivers ed. today.

"A car going twice the distance will take 4 times as long to stop"