Help me with a Trig problem

[mackle]

My teacher asked us to prove something he saw on TV that he said it's impossible to do so. The video was a commercial of it new Cadillac which was parked on a straight road (presume that on the equator) and the drivers were enjoying the sunset. When the sun disappeared over the horizone the car started to move forward really fast and catched up to the sunset (It keeps repeat over and over). My teacher asked if it's possible to do so and how fast that car has to go it could.

Given that:
Earth radius is 3559 miles.

That's all I know what else I need.

Thanks alot

 

[sygyzy]

What does "catch up to the sunset" mean? From what perspective? What angle? What time of day was it? How long had the sun been setting? Did it already start to set when they took off? What model cadillac is it? ....

 

[dighn]

basically you just need to match the angular speed of earth's rotation which is about 2pi/24 hours

assuming the car is driving around the equator, then you can just use the whole radius 5728 km * angular speed to get the required speed

edit: oops

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

The earth spins at about 1000mph. (24k miles in circumference/24 hours in a day = 1000mph) To catch the sunset you'd have to be moving faster than that. I think you'd blister the paint off your car and melt your tires.

 

[OdiN]

I think you should take an english class instead of the trigonometry class.

 

[OdiN]

Or better yet...2-3 english classes.

 

[mackle]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
The earth spins at about 1000mph. (24k miles in circumference/24 hours in a day = 1000mph) To catch the sunset you'd have to be moving faster than that. I think you'd blister the paint off your car and melt your tires.[/q

Let say it's possible. How fast?

Originally posted by: OdiN
Or better yet...2-3 english classes.

No worry..I am taking 2-3 "English" classes.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Or better yet...2-3 english classes.

😀