Question

A plane flying horizontally above Earth’s surface at 89 m/s drops a crate. The crate strikes the ground 30.0 seconds later. What is the magnitude of the horizontal component of the crate’s velocity just before it strikes the ground?

Answer 1

The horizontal component of the crate's velocity just before it strikes the ground remains constant at 89 m/s, the same as the plane's velocity before the crate was dropped.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks for the magnitude of the horizontal component of the crate's velocity just before it strikes the ground after being dropped from a plane that's flying horizontally. In problems like this, the horizontal velocity remains constant because gravity does not affect motion in the horizontal direction if we ignore air resistance. Since the plane was initially traveling at 89 m/s, and the crate does not experience any horizontal forces after being dropped (as air resistance is ignored), the horizontal component of the crate's velocity when it hits the ground will also be 89 m/s.