Fred & Barney's Car - Accident Analysis · RMPH 2013 #3
Physics · mechanics
Problem
Fred and Barney built a car having as "wheels" two identical square prisms. The wheels are perfectly suited to the road's shape (that is a periodical repetition of identical bumps), so that the center of mass of the car does not move vertically during the trip. The wheels never slip on the road. The total weight of the vehicle excluding its "wheels" is M⋅g, distributed equally on the two wheel axles. Further, assume that the only forces acting on car are gravity and normal force.
Assuming that analytical expression of road's bumps is y=k−h⋅ch(x/a) where k and h are two constants.
Task No. 3 - Accident
3.a. Determine the domain of possible values of the horizontal velocity of the car, under the circumstances established in problem's statement.
3.b. Determines how the amount of heat that can be released by plastic collision of Fred's car with an obstacle depends on position of obstacle on road. Immediately after the collision the car stops.
3.c. Determine the expression of heat released by collision.