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You are the captain of a pirate ship and wish to find out how strong a new first mate is at rowing treasure from shore to the ship. It takes him 4 minutes (240 s) to row the treasure with a constant force of 500 N. What power does the pirate supply?

User Spell
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2 Answers

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Final answer:

Calculating power supplied during rowing requires force and distance to calculate the work done, which is then divided by time. Since only force and time are given, distance is needed to calculate power. Without distance, we can describe power qualitatively but cannot provide a numerical answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student has asked how to calculate the power supplied by a pirate (in this case, the new first mate) when rowing treasure from shore to the ship. To find the power, we need to use the formula Power = Work/Time. Work done is calculated by the formula Work = Force x Distance. However, since the distance is not provided, we can't calculate the power directly from the information given.

Assuming the distance over which the treasure was rowed was constant, it would be necessary to ask the student for this piece of information or let them know that it is required to complete the calculation. Without distance, an accurate answer for power cannot be provided.

Without additional information, we can describe the concept of power qualitatively. The power generated by the first mate's rowing action depends on how much force he applies and how quickly he does the work of moving the treasure. Since he uses a force of 500 N over a period of 240 seconds, his power output would be calculated by this force multiplied by the distance rowed (which is unknown), divided by the time, 240 seconds.

User Sihirbazzz
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The formula that is usually used for the calculation of power is the product of force applied and the speed at which the action is done. That is,
P = Fv
We let d be the distance covered and the equation for power would be,
P = (500 N)(d/240 s)
P = 2.08d
User Calina
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