Question

Tectonic plates are large segments of the earth's crust that move slowly. Suppose one such plate has an average speed of 6.0 cm per year.

(a) What distance does it move in 25 seconds at this speed?
What's the formula for this problem?

Answer 1

For this problem, we use the following expression:

Speed = distance / time

Distance = Speed * time

Since the problem tells us the speed of the plates, we know that

Speed_plates = 6.0 cm/year

Which is equal to

Speed_plates = 6.0 cm/365 days = 6.0 cm/(365*24 hours)

Speed_plates = 6.0 cm/(365*24*60 minutes)

Speed_plates = 6.0 cm/(365*24*60*60 seconds)

Speed_plates = 190.258 E -9 cm / s

We multiply by 25, to get the distance traveled after 25 seconds

Distance traveled = 4.756 E-6 cm