Question

A pelican flying drops a fish from a height of 8.1 m. The fish travels 9.3 m horizontally before it hits the ground. The pelican’s speed was _____m/s.

Answer 1

To solve this problem, we can use the kinematic equations of motion. The fish is dropped from a height of 8.1 m and travels 9.3 m horizontally before hitting the ground. By calculating the time taken for the fish to hit the ground and the horizontal distance traveled, we can determine the pelican's speed. The pelican's speed was approximately 5.17 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we can use the kinematic equations of motion. The fish is dropped vertically, so its initial vertical velocity is zero. The time taken for the fish to hit the ground can be calculated using the equation h = (1/2)gt^2, where h is the height, g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2), and t is the time. Substituting the given height of 8.1 m into the equation, we can solve for t:

1. Taking the square root of both sides gives:
2. √(2h/g) = t
3. Plugging in the values:
4. √(2*8.1/9.8) = t
5. Simplifying the equation:
6. t ≈ 1.8s

Now that we have the time, we can calculate the horizontal distance traveled by the fish using the equation d = vt, where d is the distance, v is the velocity, and t is the time. Rearranging the equation, we can solve for v:

1. Plugging in the values:
2. 9.3m = v * 1.8s
3. Simplifying the equation:
4. v = 9.3/1.8 ≈ 5.17 m/s

Therefore, the pelican's speed was approximately 5.17 m/s.