Question

IF A TOY CAR RUNS TOWARDS A
PLANE MIRROR WITH A SPEED OF
2M/S, THEN AT WHAT SPEED WILL
THE IMAGE OF CAR RUN TOWARD
IT?

Answer 1

IF A TOY CAR RUNS TOWARDS A...

• Essentially the speed of the car= the speed of the car's image.
• So the answer should be 2m/s because the speed is not altered and hence it remains constant.
• However, if the question was the speed at which both are going to meet then the answer is different.
• Since, both the image and the car are moving in opposite direction, the speed will double.
• So if it is the speed of image towards the car, it is 4m/s. If it is image to the plane mirror it is 2m/s.

Answer 2

If a toy car runs towards a plane mirror with a speed of 2 m/s then the image of the car will run towards the mirror at the same speed, i.e. 2 m/s.

1) In the case of a plane mirror speed of an object toward the mirror is equal to the speed of the image towards the mirror.

2) So in the given problem the speed of the image towards the mirror will be 2 m/s.

3) But the relative velocity of the image with respect to the velocity of the object will be 4 m/s, as they are travelling in opposite direction, towards each other.