2. Case 1
You and your friend are driving on a road trip to the beach, 120
miles away. You leave at 12:00 noon, and when you are 10
minutes away from the beach, you see that you’re also at mile
marker 10.
At that moment, your friend gets pulled over by the police for
speeding.
“Speeding?” your friend says—that can’t be. I left at noon, and
I’ve driven 110 miles so far, for 110 minutes. So my velocity is
just: v = ∆X = 110 mi = 1 mi = 60 mi
∆t 110 min min h
Since the speed limit is 65, you shouldn’t give me a ticket.
3. Case 2
You get a speeding ticket for speeding on the highway, and when
you ask the officer why, he says, when I looked out my driver’s
side window, I saw your car. This means you were speeding.
4. Case 3
In Baltimore, there is a 1.5 mile long tunnel under the Baltimore
Harbor. To enter the tunnel, drivers must stop and pay a toll.
The tunnel authority decides to install equipment to measure the
amount of time it takes for drivers to make the trip for the tunnel.
The speed limit in the tunnel is 60 mi/hr.
The tunnel authority decides to give you a ticket because you
took 1.5 minutes to pass through the tunnel.
5. Instructions
Each group should choose 1 side of these 3 cases (ticket/no
ticket).
Make your best physics case on a whiteboard for why you do/
don’t deserve a ticket. Good cases include graphs, diagrams, and
explanations.
If you decide your case is flawed, and you’re on the wrong side,
figure out why someone would believe your case, and try to make
a case from that. Push the other team to convince you that you are
wrong—don’t roll over and play dead.
Hold a mini trial to argue either side of the case.
