In the daytona 500 auto race, a ford thunderbird and a mercedes benz are moving side by side down a straightaway at 71.5 m/s. the driver of the thunderbird realizes that she must make a pit stop, and she smoothly slows to a stop over a distance of 250 m. she spends 5.00 s in the pit and then accelerates out, reaching her previous speed of 71.5 m/s after a distance of 350 m. at this point, how far has the thunderbird fallen behind the mercedes benz, which has continued at a constant speed?

957.4845 m

Explanation:

t = Time taken

u = Initial velocity

v = Final velocity

s = Displacement

a = Acceleration

Time taken by the thunderbird to stop is 6.993 seconds

Time the thunderbird was at the pit is 5 seconds

Time taken to accelerate back to 71.5 m/s is 9.79 seconds

Total time to this point is 6.993+5+9.79 = 21.783 seconds

The Mercedes Benz is moving at a constant velocity hence it has no acceleration and we use the formula

Distance = Speed × Time

⇒Distance = 71.5 × 21.783 = 1557.4845 m

The thunderbird has covered 250+350 = 600 m

So, the distance between them is 1557.4845-600 = 957.4845 m

this would be about 43%