Question

A seagull can fly at a velocity of 9.00 m/s in still air. (a) If it takes the bird 20.0 min to travel 6.00 km straight into an oncoming wind, what is the velocity of the wind? (b) If the bird turns around and flies with the wind, how long will it take the bird to return 6.00 km?

a) (1.2 m/s, 25 min)
b) (2.2 m/s, 15 min)
c) (3.0 m/s, 20 min)
d) (4.0 m/s, 30 min)

Answer 1

The velocity of the wind is 1.2 m/s and it takes the seagull 15 min to return 6.00 km. The wind affects the round-trip time.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to solve this problem, we need to use the concept of relative velocity. The velocity of the seagull with respect to the still air is given as 9.00 m/s. We can find the velocity of the wind by subtracting the velocity of the seagull from the time taken to travel 6.00 km into the wind. So, (a) the velocity of the wind is 1.2 m/s.

For part (b), when the bird turns around and flies with the wind, the time taken to return 6.00 km can be found by dividing the distance by the sum of the velocity of the seagull and the velocity of the wind. Thus, (b) the time taken to return 6.00 km is 15 min.

The wind affects the total round-trip time by either increasing or decreasing the time depending on the direction it is blowing. In this case, the wind slowed down the bird in one direction and helped it in the other direction, resulting in a longer round-trip time compared to what it would be with no wind.