Stopping Distances and Reaction Times
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What is the equation to calculate stopping distance?
Describe what is meant by thinking distance.
The distance travelled during the driver’s reaction time
Describe what is meant by braking distance.
The distance taken to stop once the brakes have been applied
Describe what is meant by stopping distance.
The distance covered between the driver spotting a hazard and the vehicle coming to a stop
List some factors that affect thinking distance.
• Reaction time • Drugs/alcohol • Tiredness • Distractions (phone, people) • Speed
List some factors that affect braking distance.
• Speed • Mass of car • Condition of brakes • Condition of road / friction
(Exam-style question)
What is the typical reaction time for a person?
0.4 - 0.9 s
(Exam-style question) Describe the steps involved when using the ruler drop experiment to investigate reaction times.
• Hold ruler between open forefinger and thumb of person being tested • Align their finger to zero line on ruler • Drop ruler without warning • Have test subject close their thumb and finger to catch ruler • Distance the ruler falls can be read from the ruler • Time taken for it to fall can be calculated, as the acceleration (due to gravity) is constant • (This is the reaction time of the test subject)
The ruler drop test can be used to investigate people’s reaction times. Describe one other method that can be used to test people’s reaction times.
Clicking a mouse when a computer screen changes colour