Question

The distance between the office and the lavatory is 100 m. Starting from the office a person runs to the lavatory with the speed v1=6 m/s. He returns back from the lavatory to the office with average speed v2=1 m/s. Calculate an average speed of this person over the time of roundtrip, in m/s.

Answer 1

The average speed of the person over the roundtrip is calculated by dividing the total distance traveled (200 m) by the total time taken (116.67 s), which yields approximately 1.71 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the average speed of a person during a roundtrip, we must consider the total distance traveled and the total time it takes to travel that distance. If the distance between the office and the lavatory is 100 m, then the total distance for the roundtrip is 200 m (100 m each way). The person runs to the lavatory with a speed of v1 = 6 m/s and returns with a speed of v2 = 1 m/s.

The time taken to go from the office to the lavatory is t1 = distance / speed = 100 m / 6 m/s = 16.67 s. The time taken to return from the lavatory to the office is t2 = distance / speed = 100 m / 1 m/s = 100 s. Thus, the total time for the roundtrip is t1 + t2 = 16.67 s + 100 s = 116.67 s.

Now, we can calculate the average speed over the roundtrip by dividing the total distance by the total time: average speed = total distance / total time = 200 m / 116.67 s = 1.71 m/s (approximately).