Dueling Buggies Lab

Objective: 

To know the position (cm) of where the two buggies will meet with the buggies traveling in opposite directions, moving at different speeds and with a certain distance in between them at their starting positions. Also how long it will take the two buggies to meet (sec).

Plan:

• For the fast buggy, my group measured how long it took the buggy in seconds to get from the position of 0 cm to the position of 80 cm. It took the buggy 1.57 seconds to travel this distance(0 cm-80 cm.) With this information we were able to find out that the buggy travels at the speed of about 51 cm/sec by dividing 1.57 seconds by 80 centimeters. other way - you are dividing 80 cm by 1.57 sec
• For the slow buggy, my group measured how long it took the buggy in seconds to get from the position of 0 cm to 80 cm. It took the buggy 3.88 seconds to travel this distance(0 cm-80 cm.) With this information we were able to find out that the buggy travels at the speed of about 20 cm/sec by dividing 3.88 seconds by 80 centimeters.

Data Analysis:

• After collecting the data for the two buggies we made an equation that would tell us at what position, in centimeters, the buggies would meet if we plugged in the distance between the starting positions or otherwise known as the total distance traveled by both buggies. Our equation stated that the whole distance (cm)  traveled by both buggies equals the amount of centimeters traveled per second of one buggy multiplied by the amount of time (sec) the buggy traveled added together with the other buggy's centimeters traveled per second multiplied my the amount of time (sec). The time plugged in for both buggies would always be the same for both because they traveled for the same amount of time. We added them together instead of subtracting because the distance traveled per second multiplied by how long it travels for represents the total distance traveled by that one buggy, so to find the total distance of both you would have to do that step with both and add them together to give you the total distance traveled by both instead of just one.  excellent!!
• f(d)=20t+51t

Using your Model/Designing a Solution:

• My group predicted that if the total distance between the buggies starting positions was 170 cm then the buggies would meet when the fast buggy reached the position of 121.89 cm and the slow buggy reached the position of 48.11 cm. To reach these positions it would take the buggies about 2.39 seconds. Our equation did work and we did not find out that our data or method was wrong.