In an action movie, the villain is rescued from the ocean by grabbing onto the ladder hanging from a helicopter. He is so intent on gripping the ladder that he lets go of his briefcase of counterfeit money when he is 130above the water.

If the briefcase hits the water 6.0 later, what was the speed at which the helicopter was ascending?

I found the distances (176.4 m) that the suitcase falls from, but I can't find the acceleration, final velocity, or time.

To find the speed at which the helicopter was ascending, we need to determine the time it took for the briefcase to reach the water and use that information to calculate the speed.

First, let's find the time it takes for the briefcase to fall to the water. We can use the equation for freefall distance:

d = (1/2) * g * t^2

where d is the distance, g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s^2), and t is the time.

Given that the briefcase falls 176.4 m and using the equation, we can rearrange to solve for time:

176.4 = (1/2) * 9.8 * t^2

Simplifying the equation, we get:

t^2 = (2 * 176.4) / 9.8

t^2 = 35.88

Taking the square root of both sides, we find:

t ≈ 5.99 seconds

Now we have the time it takes for the briefcase to reach the water (6.0 seconds), which allows us to find the initial velocity of the briefcase. We can use this formula:

v = g * t

where v is the velocity, g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s^2), and t is the time.

Substituting the values, we get:

v = 9.8 * 6.0

v = 58.8 m/s

So, the initial velocity of the briefcase was approximately 58.8 m/s.

To find the speed at which the helicopter was ascending, we need to calculate the average velocity. Since the briefcase was dropped from rest and its final velocity is determined by the fall, the average velocity will be half of the final velocity. Therefore, the speed at which the helicopter was ascending will be half of the final velocity:

v_helicopter = 58.8 / 2

v_helicopter = 29.4 m/s

Thus, the speed at which the helicopter was ascending was approximately 29.4 m/s.