A plane leaves Chicago headed for Los Angeles at 520 mph. One hour later, a second plane leaves Los Angeles headed for Chicago at 620 mph. If the air route from Chicago to Los Angeles is 1800 miles, how long will it take (after the first plane takes off) for the first plane to pass the second plane? (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

Question

A plane leaves Chicago headed for Los Angeles at 520 mph. One hour later, a second plane leaves Los Angeles headed for Chicago at 620 mph. If the air route from Chicago to Los Angeles is 1800 miles, how long will it take (after the first plane takes off) for the first plane to pass the second plane? (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

Answer 1

To find out how long it will take for the first plane to pass the second plane, we can use the formula:

Time = Distance / Speed

Let's break down the problem and find the distances covered by both planes.

Plane 1:
Speed of Plane 1 = 520 mph
Time for Plane 1 to pass the second plane = T (we need to find this)
Distance covered by Plane 1 = Speed of Plane 1 * Time

Plane 2:
Speed of Plane 2 = 620 mph
Time for Plane 2 to pass the first plane = T - 1 hour (Plane 2 leaves 1 hour later)
Distance covered by Plane 2 = Speed of Plane 2 * Time

Now, we know that the total distance between Chicago and Los Angeles is 1800 miles. So, we can set up the equation:

Distance covered by Plane 1 + Distance covered by Plane 2 = Total Distance
(Speed of Plane 1 * Time) + (Speed of Plane 2 * (T - 1)) = 1800

Plugging in the given values:
(520 * T) + (620 * (T - 1)) = 1800

Simplifying the equation:
520T + 620T - 620 = 1800
1140T = 2420
T = 2.12

Therefore, it will take approximately 2.12 hours (or 2 hours and 7 minutes) for the first plane to pass the second plane after the first plane takes off.