[Physics] High school physics problem – having trouble understanding

homework-and-exerciseskinematics

This is a fairly straightforward problem which doesn't require the usage of more than one or two formula but I find it hard to grasp the concept behind this.

Let's say we have two trains, one which moves at the speed of $45 \frac{km}{h}$ and the other at the speed of $60\frac{km}{h}$. Now, let the first train start moving, and let the second one start moving an hour after the first one. The question is after how many hours will the second train catch up to the first one.

I have always had trouble visualizing these kind of problems. I know that the second train starts with a delay of $1$ hour and that during that time the first train passes $45$km. But how do I calculate this?

I know that $v_2 – v_1 = 15\frac{km}{h}$ which is the relative speed of the second train with respect to the first one. This probably means that in such a frame of reference, the $v_1$ is zero so we can imagine it as being static, under the condition that the new $v_2=15 \frac{km}{h}$.

But how do I calculate this? $t=\frac{s}{v}$, thus I need a length in order to calculate this. I can't simply plug in the $45$ km from above because that would be the time in which the second train got to the $45$km mark, but the first train would have moved away from that point. Could anyone explain?

Best Answer

After the 1st hour, the first train would have moved 45 km, the second train will just start moving. Therefore, the distance between the two trains is 45 km.

In the next hour, the second train moves 60km, the first train moves only 45 km, so the second train would have caught up by 15 km. The distance between the two trains is now 30km.

Repeat this for another 2 hours and the second train will have caught up with the first train.

The best way to see this will be to draw out the distance travelled by each train per hour, or the sketch the displacement-time graph for each train. The idea of 'relative velocity' is a more complicated way to reason the above situation, although it can be very useful in certain problems.

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