A pelican flying drops a fish from a height of 10.1m. The fish travels 8.5m horizontally before hitting the ground. What was the pelican's speed?

0 = -1/2 g t^2 + 10.1

t^2 = 10.1 / 4.9

v = 8.5 / t

To find the pelican's speed, we need to use the horizontal distance traveled by the fish and the time it takes for the fish to hit the ground.

First, let's calculate the time it takes for the fish to hit the ground. We can use the equation for the vertical motion of an object in free fall:

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

where h is the height (10.1m), g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s^2), and t is the time.

Rearranging the equation to solve for time (t), we get:

t = √(2h / g)

Let's substitute the values into the equation:

t = √(2 * 10.1m / 9.8 m/s^2)
t ≈ √2.06s^2 ≈ 1.43s

Now that we have the time it takes for the fish to fall, we can find the pelican's speed by dividing the horizontal distance traveled by the fish by the time:

Speed = Distance / Time
Speed = 8.5m / 1.43s
Speed ≈ 5.94 m/s

Therefore, the pelican's speed was approximately 5.94 m/s.