The Stuck Truck
Trucks often get stuck when going under a certain bridge, where the road goes up at the end of the bridge.
- The bridge has a clearance of 10', and the given truck has a height of 9.4'. Move the Distance slider (or check the Animate box) to verify that the truck will indeed hit the top of the bridge.
- Use the slider to find the height of the truck to see what the smallest safe truck height would be.
- Now use the slider to change the height of the bridge. How does your answer change?
- Try different bridge heights to see if you can find a pattern.
- You can also change the angle of the road by changing the slider for . How do your answers change for different angles?
Advanced Explorations:
- Click the box to Change the Bridge. Adjust the bridge offset, the distance it is from the start of the include. How does that affect your answers?
- For simplicity, we assumed the truck does not have any wheels. Check the box to Add Wheels. Change the radius of the wheels, as well as how the are from the front and back of the Trailer. How does that affect your answers?