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Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987
Forgive my English-Major retardation, but shouldn't it come into play that the car's acceleration is not a constant number? E.g., the '87 300D accelerates from 0-20 in 2 seconds. To pick up another 20 (from 20-40 mph), it takes 3 seconds. To pick up the next 20 (from 40-60), it takes over 4 seconds. As speed increases, acceleration decreases, and not at a constant rate. So I think there are too many variables to solve for velocity, because you don't know the acceleration rate without knowing the velocity, or the time it took you to get .5 miles. Maybe I'll regret opening my mouth on this one, as I might have said something revealingly stupid. I haven't taken physics since junior year in high school, so even though I'm decent with math and with engineering-type knowledge, I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about now.
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Don't feel stupid. You are absolutely correct. The acceleration that I gave to Carrameow was an average number from 0-60. It is much higher than this number when the vehicle is in first gear and much lower than this number when the vehicle is in third gear. I used this number for the average acceleration across the entire 1/2 mile run, which is clearly wrong. The vehicle cannot accelerate at 6 ft/secē from 60 mph to 120 mph.
It is all just a meaningless exercise for the prosecutor.
