Question

A severe storm on January 10, 1992, caused a cargo ship near the Aleutian Islands to spill 29 000 rubber ducks and other bath toys into the ocean. Ten months later hundreds of rubber ducks began to appear along the shoreline near Sitka, Alaska, roughly 1600 miles away. What was the approximate average speed of the ocean current that carried the ducks to shore in (a) m/s and (b) mi/hr

Answer 1

• a.
  `v = 0.0889 (m)/(s)`

• b.
  `v = 0.19 (mi)/(hr)`

Step-by-step explanation:

The average speed is :

`v = (distance)/(time)`

Now, how many seconds are in 10 months? We know that there are 31 days in seven months (January, March, May, July, August and October), 30 days in three months ( April, June and September) and 28 days in February. This gives us:

`days = 31 * 7 + 30 * 3 + 28`

`days = 335`

Now, in every day there are 24 hours. So, the total number of hours will be:

`time = 335 \ days * (24 \ hours)/(1 \ day)`

`time = 8040 hours`

So, the speed will be:

`v= (1600 \ mi)/(8040 \ hr)`

`v = 0.199 (mi)/(hr)`

To convert this to m/s we can use the conversion factors:

`v = 0.199 (mi)/(hr) * (1 \ hr )/(3600 \ s ) * (1609 \ m)/(1 \ mi)`

`v = 0.0889 (m)/(s)`