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The altimeter on a low-speed airplane reads 2 km. The airspeed indicator reads 50 m/s. If the outside air temperature is 280 K, what is the true velocity of the airplane?

User Axazeano
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

True velocity of an airplane requires wind speed and direction data in addition to airspeed; thus, it cannot be calculated with the provided information alone.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the true velocity of the airplane, other factors like wind speed and direction would have to be taken into account along with the given airspeed. However, since the question only provides the air temperature and does not include any information about wind conditions, it is not possible to calculate the true velocity with the given data. True velocity is affected by wind and actual atmospheric conditions that are not provided in this scenario.

To find the true velocity of the airplane, we need to use the concept of airspeed and groundspeed. The airspeed is the speed of the airplane relative to the air, while the groundspeed is the speed of the airplane relative to the ground. The true velocity is the vector sum of the airspeed and groundspeed.

Since we are given the airspeed of 50 m/s, we need to find the groundspeed. The altimeter reading of 2 km does not directly help in finding the groundspeed. Therefore, we need more information to calculate the true velocity of the airplane.

User Fdo
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