During a sports meet two athletes, A and B

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Mechanics and materials · Mechanics and materials

Problem

During a sports meet two athletes, A and B, run along a straight

100\,\text{m}

track. Their distances from the starting line were noted every

2\,\text{s}

and are shown in the table below.

Time $t$ (s)	0	2	4	6	8
Distance $s_A$ of A (m)	0	12	24	36	48
Distance $s_B$ of B (m)	0	15	30	45	60

Assume each athlete continues to run with the same uniform speed shown by the table. (i) Calculate the average speed of each athlete in the first

8\,\text{s}

. (ii) Who covers the

100\,\text{m}

first? Show your working. (iii) After how many seconds from the start will the two athletes be exactly

30\,\text{m}

apart? Support your answer with calculation.