You are driving in the middle of a dark parking lot in the middle of the night.

Question

You are driving in the middle of a dark parking lot in the middle of the night. Your headlights suddenly illuminate a wall directly ahead of you that is perpendicular to your direction of travel and stretching away at both sides as far as you can see. To avoid hitting the wall, is it better to turn your car to the right or left w/o braking or to brake as hard as you can while moving in a straight line toward the wall? (Hint: There's a limit to the force the interaction between your car's tires and the road can exert on your car before you begin to skid. Also remember Newton's second law)

Explanation / Answer

max deceleration = u*g
so breaking distance d1=v^2/(2ug))
in case of turning,radius of turning=r
so v^2/r=ug
so r=v^2/ug
so breaking distance d2=v^2/ug
d2>d1
so its better to break...   

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Y
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.