Problem Statement:

If a killer whale can accelerate to 9.0 m/s in 3.5 s, how fast would a dolphin need to accelerate to elude it?

Solution:

Start by looking at the capture time equation:

We notice that if a_prey > a_pred, we will wind up taking the square root of a negative number. Since the square root of a negative number is imaginary, we conclude that there is no capture if a_prey > a_pred. But,

Thus, a_dolphin > 2.6 m/s² is required for the dolphin to elude capture.