A car travelling at 60 km/h overtakes another car travelling at 42 km/h. Assuming each car to be 5.0 m long, find the time taken during the overtake and the total road distance used for the overtake.

Question

Philoid · Accepted Answer

Let velocity of the first car be v1= 60 km/h=16.7 m/s

Let velocity of the second car be v2= 42 km/h=11.7 m/s

Then, relative velocity between the cars=16.7-11.7=5m/s

Distance travelled by the first car w.r.to second car while overtaking, s =5+5=10 m

Here time taken,

Distance covered by first car w.r.to road is

∴ the total road distance used for the overtake= Distance covered by first car w.r.to road + length of the car=33.4 m+ 5 m=38.4 m