Lesson: Trains crossing in the night problems – 2010

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Solve problems involving two objects moving towards each other at different rates
• Solve problems involving two objects moving away from each other at different rates
• Solve “chasing” problems with two objects moving in the same direction at different rates.

Ships Passing... in the Night

1. The HMS PJH leaves the Port of Portland on an 850 mile journey to Monterey, CA for a golf tournament. At
the same time, The HMS Nate leaves from the Port of Los Angeles on a 1050 mile journey in the same fishing
lane towards Portland. After how many hours of travel will the two ships cross?

2. A boat leaves Miami for a 260 mile crossing to Havana travelling 20 miles per hour. An hour later another
boat moving at twice the rate of the first boat leaves Havana for Miami. How far from Miami will they cross?

3. Two runners run in opposite directions around a 400 meter track. If the runners run at 2 and 4 meters per
second. How many times will they cross in one hour?

Objects Moving Away from Each Other

1. Standing back-to-back two opponents begin a duel by each taking steps in opposite directions at the same pace.
If they take one step per second, how long until they are 80 steps apart?

2. Leaving in opposite directions from the same point, Patricia and Holly set out on separate trips. Assume
Patricia leaves two hours earlier and drives at 68 miles per hour, while Holly drives at 63 miles per hour.
 • From the time Patricia leaves, model exactly how far apart they are after any number of hours (h) on a
graph. Can you include an equation or two equations to fit the graph?

Distance apart

• From the time Patricia leaves, how many hours until they are 200 miles apart? (Round to the nearest
Hundredth)
• From the time Holly leaves, how many hours until they are 300 miles apart?

Objects Chasing Each Other

1. A chases B. B has a head start of 2 minutes and goes 30 miles per hour. A will go 40 miles per hour.
• How long after they start will A catch B?
• How far will they both have travelled?

2. Adele runs down the soccer field at a clip, 11 miles per hour. She’s chasing an opponent, with the ball (though
not for long), who’s running at 8 miles per hour. If her opponent is 30 feet ahead of her, will she reach her
opponent before her opponent runs 50 yards?

Challenge
1. Rafters travelling on a river can row the raft 5 miles per hour relative to the water. If the water is travelling
10 miles per hour, how long will it take the rafters to float 1 mile? How much of that mile will the rafters have
coasted through and how much did they feel like they rowed?
Solutions
Ships Passing. . . in the night
1
1. 26 hours
4
2. 100 miles from Miami
3. 54 crosses. (4 + 2) · 60 · 60 = 21600, so together the runners will cover that many meters in an hour. Every 400
meters they will cross paths, so they should cross 54 times.

Objects Moving Away from Each Other

1. 40 seconds
Distance apart

150
b d = 136 + 131(h − 2)

100

50 d = 68h

0
0 1 2 3 4 h
2.

• From the time Patricia leaves, it wil be ≈ 2.49 hours, or 2 hours and 29.31 minutes (rounding to the
nearest hundredth) until they are 200 miles apart.
• From the time Holly leaves it will be ≈ 1.25 hours until they are 300 miles apart.

Objects Chasing Each Other

1. • After B starts, it will be 8 minutes until A catches up (6 minutes of travel time for A.
• They will both have travelled 4 miles.

1 feet
2. Adele has 30 feet to make up, and she gains on her opponent at 3 miles per hour or 3 · 5280 · 3600 = 4.4 .
second
9
At that rate it will take her 6 11 seconds to catch her opponent. In that time her opponent who is travelling 8
11 feet 2
miles per hour (or 11 15 second will cover 80 feet, which is 26 3 yards, so yes, Adele will reach her opponent
before her opponent runs 50 yards.

Challenge
1. It will take the rafters 1/15th of an hour, 4 minutes, to float 1 mile. The rafters will feel as though they rowed
1 2
3 of a mile, and they will have coasted through 2 of it.