Question

During a recent winter storm bales of hay had to be dropped from an airplane to a herd of cattle below. Assume the airplane flew horizontally at an altitude of 180 m with a constant velocity of 50 m/s and dropped one bale of hay every two seconds. It is reasonable to assume that air resistance will be negligible for this situation.As the bales are falling through the air what will happen to their distance of separation?

A the distance of separation will increase
B the distance of separation will decrease
C the distance of separation will remain constant
D the distance of separation will depend on the mass of the bales
E none of the above are always true

Answer 1

The separation distance between bales of hay dropped from a moving airplane at regular intervals A. will increase as they fall, due to the constant horizontal velocity of the airplane.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is regarding the separation distance between bales of hay as they are dropped from an airplane during a winter storm relief effort. If the airplane flies horizontally at a constant velocity and drops bales of hay at regular intervals (every two seconds), and we assume air resistance is negligible, then the distance between the falling bales will increase as they fall to the ground. This is because each subsequent bale is dropped from a point further along the horizontal path of the airplane, which is traveling at a constant speed; meanwhile, each bale falls vertically at the same acceleration due to gravity. Thus, the distance between each pair of bales increases both horizontally, because of the plane's motion, and vertically, because later bales spend less time falling.

As a result, the vertical distance between the bales will increase as they fall, leading to an increase in the distance of separation between them.