TBR: Skiers Going Down Slope

[justadream]

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TBR Physics I page 103 #22

TBR shows a hill with 2 skiers on it (one farther down than the other). The they ask what happens to the distance between the 2 skiers as the skiers move down.

I interpreted the problem differently from TBR and just want to confirm whether my thinking in my hypothetical interpretation would be correct:

TBR's Interpretation:
Assume the skier farther down and the skier at the top of the hill both start at time = 0. Thus, if both skiers have the same initial velocity (for example, V0 = 0), then the distance between them will be the same as time progresses.


My Hypothetical Interpretation:
Skier_1 starts down the hill and then a few seconds later, Skier_2 starts down the hill. In this case, assuming both skiers started at rest, would the distance between them INCREASE?

 

[type12]

TBR Physics I page 103 #22

TBR shows a hill with 2 skiers on it (one farther down than the other). The they ask what happens to the distance between the 2 skiers as the skiers move down.

I interpreted the problem differently from TBR and just want to confirm whether my thinking in my hypothetical interpretation would be correct:

TBR's Interpretation:
Assume the skier farther down and the skier at the top of the hill both start at time = 0. Thus, if both skiers have the same initial velocity (for example, V0 = 0), then the distance between them will be the same as time progresses.


My Hypothetical Interpretation:
Skier_1 starts down the hill and then a few seconds later, Skier_2 starts down the hill. In this case, assuming both skiers started at rest, would the distance between them INCREASE?

Yes, they had different starting speeds in your scenario but are increasing their speed at the same rate. You can think of the change in distance between them as the difference in their velocities, and the difference in velocities is constantly not zero in your scenario. So, the rate at which the distance increases will not change.

ex. skier starts at 20 m/s and other at 10 m/s. Skiers will keep increasing in distance by 10 meters every second if both accelerate at the same rate.

 

[justadream]

@type12

Okay thanks!

I would have never interpreted the question as TBR had done it. Because like...who starts a ski slope midway? lol Isn't it implied that you start ski slopes at the top of the hill?