Overview
I'm working on a physics exercise and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
1. An oil tanker’s engines have broken down, and the wind is blowing the tanker straight toward a reef at a constant speed of v=7.6m/s.
When the tanker is 776m from the reef, the wind dies down just as the engineer gets the engines going again.
The rudder is stuck, so the only choice is to try to accelerate straight backward away from the reef.
The mass of the tanker and cargo is 3.3×107 kg and the engines produce a net horizontal force of 2.8×105 kg on the tanker.
Unfortunately the tanker still hits the reef. But the oil doesn't spill.
With what velocity (in m/s) does the tanker reach the reef?
Ignore the retarding force of the water on the tanker’s hull