Question

The north american and european continents are moving apart at a rate of about 3 cm/y. at this rate how long will it take them to drift 500 km farther apart than they are at present?

Answer 1

The North American and European continents will take approximately 166,667 years to drift 500 km farther apart than they are at present.

Step-by-step explanation:

The North American and European continents are moving apart at a rate of about 3 cm/y. To determine how long it will take for them to drift 500 km farther apart than they are at present, we can use the formula:

Time = Distance / Rate

First, we need to convert the distance from kilometers to centimeters. There are 100,000 centimeters in 1 kilometer, so 500 km is equal to 500,000 cm.

Using the formula, the time it will take is:

1. Time = 500,000 cm / 3 cm/y

Calculating this, we find that it will take approximately 166,667 years for the continents to drift 500 km farther apart than they are at present.

Answer 2

In this case, the continents are moving apart at a rate (velocity = 3 cm/y) and the distance for continent to move(distance= 500km). You are asked how long it will take(time). Then to answer this question you need to convert the 500km into the same unit as the velocity which was cm. The formula would be:

Distance = velocity x time
500km x 10^5 cm/km= 3cm/year x time
time= 5x 10^7 cm / (3cm/year)
time= 1.7 x 10^7 year or 17 million year