SOLUTION: Question: A freight train that is 1 mile long is traveling at 60 mph. A second train that is 2 miles long is traveling at 40 mph. The trains are moving in opposite directions on p

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Question 358902: Question: A freight train that is 1 mile long is traveling at 60 mph. A second train that is 2 miles long is traveling at 40 mph. The trains are moving in opposite directions on parallel tracks. How many seconds does it take between the time their locomotives meet and the time their cabooses fully pass each other?
Okay i am stumped completely on this, don't believe i have ever been taught it and some help would be extremely appreciated.
Answer by solver91311(24713) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Since the longer train is 2 miles long, the front of the locomotive on the shorter train has to go 2 miles to get to the back of the caboose on the long train. Then it has to go another mile, its own length, until its caboose passes the one on the long train. Total distance traveled: 3 miles. One train is going 40 miles per hour and the other is going 60 miles per hour in the opposite direction, total speed: 100 miles per hour. So how many seconds does it take something moving at 100 miles per hour to travel 3 miles? I'll leave that arithmetic to you.

John

My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it