A person walking across a bridge accidentally drops an orange into the river below from a height of 40 feet. The function h =- 16t^2+ 40 gives the orange's approximate height h above the water, in feet, after t seconds. In how many seconds will the orange hit the water?

Question

A person walking across a bridge accidentally drops an orange into the river below from a height of 40 feet. The function h =- 16t^2+ 40 gives the orange's approximate height h above the water, in feet, after t seconds. In how many seconds will the orange hit the water?

Answer 1

To find out when the orange will hit the water, we need to set h (the height above the water) equal to 0 and solve for t:

-16t^2 + 40 = 0
-16t^2 = -40
t^2 = 40/16
t^2 = 2.5
t = √2.5
t ≈ 1.58

Therefore, it will take approximately 1.58 seconds for the orange to hit the water.