the passengers of a cruise ship were shocked to learn that their ship was sinking. the ship is 218 ft tall and is sinking at the rate of 1/2 ft per minute. how long do the passengers have to abandon the ship?
Abandon ship now!
If all of the passengers could go to the topmost part -- at 218 feet -- then they'd have 218 * 2 = 436 minutes before the top went below the water.
436 minutes
To calculate how long the passengers have to abandon the ship, we need to determine the time it takes for the ship to sink completely. We can do this by dividing the total height of the ship by the sinking rate.
Given:
Height of the ship = 218 ft
Sinking rate = 1/2 ft per minute
To find the time needed to sink completely:
Time = Height / Sinking rate
Time = 218 ft / (1/2 ft per minute)
Time = 218 ft * 2 ft/minute
Time = 436 minutes
Therefore, the passengers have approximately 436 minutes, or about 7 hours and 16 minutes, to abandon the ship before it sinks completely.