Question

a chipmunk can run 5m/ s. A fox can run 8m/ s. If the chipmunk and fox start running at the same time, will the chipmunk make it to its burrow in time?

Answer 1

The answer would depend on how far the chipmunk is from the fox and its burrow.

Let's say the chipmunk is 20m away from the burrow and the fox is 30m away from the burrow. You can figure this out by computing the time it would take for each animal to reach the burrow.

The formula for speed is:

`v= (d)/(t)`
You can derive the formula for time by exchanging the position of speed (v) with time (t). You new formula would look like this:


`t= (d)/(v)`

Now let's get the chipmunk time first:

Chipmunk given:
v= 5m/s
d= 20m

`t= (d)/(t)`

`t= (20m)/(5m/s)`

`t= 4s`

Now let's get the time of the fox.

Fox given:
v= 8m/s
d = 30m

`t= (30m)/(8m/s)`

`t= 3.75s`

Since it would take the fox a shorter time to cross that distance then the answer would be:

No, the chipmunk will not make it to the burrow in time.