a coast guard ship left the port at 30 mph. four hours later a helicopter was dispatched at 90 mph to intercept the ship. how long will it take the helicopter to catch the ship?
To find out how long it will take the helicopter to catch the ship, we need to calculate the distance the ship traveled in the 4-hour head start before the helicopter was dispatched.
The distance traveled by the ship in 4 hours can be calculated using the formula: distance = speed × time.
Given that the ship's speed is 30 mph, and it traveled for 4 hours, we can calculate the distance as follows:
Distance = 30 mph × 4 hours = 120 miles.
Now that we know the distance the ship traveled, we can determine how long it will take the helicopter to cover that distance.
Using the formula: time = distance ÷ speed, we can calculate the time it will take for the helicopter to travel 120 miles at a speed of 90 mph:
Time = 120 miles ÷ 90 mph = 1.33 hours.
Therefore, it will take the helicopter approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes (or 1.33 hours) to catch up with the ship.