A pelican flying along a horizontal path drops a fish from a height of 125 m while traveling 40 m/s. How far does the fish travel horizontally before it hits the water below?
find the time to fall 125m.
then horizonal distance= 125*timeinair
1020.5
To determine how far the fish will travel horizontally before hitting the water, we need to consider the horizontal velocity of the pelican and the time it takes for the fish to reach the water.
First, let's find the time it takes for the fish to fall to the ground. We can use the equation of motion for vertical free fall:
h = (1/2) * g * t^2
where h is the initial height (125 m), g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2), and t is the time. Rearranging the equation, we get:
t^2 = (2 * h) / g
t^2 = (2 * 125) / 9.8
t^2 = 25.51
t ≈ 5.05 s
Now that we have the time it takes for the fish to fall, we can find the horizontal distance traveled by multiplying the horizontal velocity (40 m/s) by the time:
distance = velocity * time
distance = 40 m/s * 5.05 s
distance ≈ 202 m
Therefore, the fish will travel approximately 202 meters horizontally before hitting the water below.