Motion and differentiation question (1 Viewer)

ataratar

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2012
Messages
78
Gender
Female
HSC
2014
Hey guys, this probably isn't very hard but I'm very confused! Any help would be much appreciated
A particle is moving in a straight line so that its displacement xcm over time t seconds is given by x=t(square root: 49-t2)
How far does the particle move altogether?
Sorry for the confusion about the square root sign, basically just the 49 - t2 is all under a square root multiplied by t on the outside!
Thankya
 

braintic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
2,137
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
When you differentiate and factorise, you should get v = (49-2t^2) / sqrt(49-t^2)

This is equal to zero at t = 7/sqrt(2)

The particle starts at x=0, and ends its motion 7 seconds later also at x=0 (due to the domain restriction).

So you need to substitute t=7/sqrt(2) into the function and double.

But ..... where did you get this question from? It is absolutely ridiculous.
Apparently the particle goes from an extremely high negative velocity just before t=7, to just stopping dead.
I'm guessing it must have been annihilated at t=7 by a beam of anti-matter.

(Not to mention the fact that the particle exceeds the speed of light)
 
Last edited:

ataratar

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2012
Messages
78
Gender
Female
HSC
2014
Thankyou but I still don't quite understand! Why wouldn't you sub in t=7 because its asking how far the particle has travelled and altogether it travels for 7 seconds, not 7/sqrt(2) ? Its just from some random sheet my maths teacher gave me ahah
 

braintic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
2,137
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Thankyou but I still don't quite understand! Why wouldn't you sub in t=7 because its asking how far the particle has travelled and altogether it travels for 7 seconds, not 7/sqrt(2) ? Its just from some random sheet my maths teacher gave me ahah
I did sub in t=7 ... as I said in the 3rd line, I got x=0.

So it starts at x=0 and ends at x=0. But that doesn't tell you how far its travelled .... you need to know where its been during that 7 seconds.
It turned around at t=7/sqrt(2) because that it where it was stationary, so it started at x=0, headed to whatever x value at t=7/sqrt(2), then returned to x=0 at t=7.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top