Grade 10 Mathematics Teachers’ Book

Drag the red and blue points on the axis in the middle panel to set the starting positions of the two objects.

Use the sliders in the top panel to set the speeds of Object A (Red) and Object B (Blue).

Click Start in the bottom panel to begin the animation.

Watch the dotted lines and the labels above each car to see how far each object has traveled.

If the cars meet, the simulation will pause automatically and display the message “Cars Met!”.

Click Resume to allow the cars to continue moving past each other.

You may click Pause at any time to stop the animation and observe the positions of the cars.

Click Reset to stop the simulation and return the cars and timer to their starting state so that you can run a new experiment.

Set both objects to moderate speeds (for example, \(5\) m/s each). Start the animation. Observe how quickly the cars approach each other. Why does the relative speed equal the sum of their speeds?

Increase the speed of one object while keeping the other constant. Pause the simulation before the cars meet and estimate how long it will take for them to collide. Then resume the animation to test your prediction.

Drag the cars very far apart before starting the animation. How does increasing the starting distance affect the meeting time?

After the cars meet, click “Resume” and observe how they continue moving away from each other. What happens to the distance between them after they pass?