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27 votes
27 votes
What a thrill! I'm parasailing at an elevation of five hundred sixty feet above the beautiful deep blue sea. But wait! Suddenly, I feel myself being reeled in several minutes too early and I'm sinking at the rate of one point nine feet per second and I keep sinking at this rate! I want my money back!

The elevation is now one hundred seventy-nine point seven yards. How long have I been plummeting downward?

User Chrulri
by
2.9k points

2 Answers

18 votes
18 votes

Final answer:

To calculate how long the person has been sinking, the elevation in yards was converted to feet, and the distance descended was divided by the rate of descent, resulting in approximately 11 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how long a person has been sinking while parasailing, we first need to convert the current elevation from yards to feet since the rate of descent is given in feet per second. Next, we subtract the starting elevation (560 feet) from the current elevation in feet to find the distance descended. Finally, divide this distance by the rate of descent to calculate the time.

To convert the current elevation from yards to feet, we use the conversion factor that 1 yard is equal to 3 feet:
Current elevation in feet = 179.7 yards × 3 feet/yard = 539.1 feet

Now, we'll calculate the distance descended and the time:
Distance descended = Starting elevation - Current elevation
= 560 feet - 539.1 feet = 20.9 feet


Time = Distance descended / Rate of descent
= 20.9 feet / 1.9 feet/second
= 11 seconds (approximately)

So, the person has been plummeting for about 11 seconds since they began being reeled in too early.

User Vireshas
by
2.5k points
13 votes
13 votes

Answer:

10.68421 seconds

Step-by-step explanation:

What a thrill! I'm parasailing at an elevation of five hundred sixty feet above the beautiful deep blue sea. But wait! Suddenly, I feel myself being reeled in several minutes too early and I'm sinking at the rate of one point nine feet per second and I keep sinking at this rate! I want my money back!

The elevation is now one hundred seventy-nine point seven yards. How long have I been plummeting downward?

convert feet to yards:

560/3 = 186.666667

calculate feet fallen:

186.666667 - 179.7 = 6.766667

at a rate of 1.9 feet per second or 0.6333333 yards per second:

6.766667 / 0.6333333 = 10.68421 seconds

User ACC
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2.9k points