Question

A skydiver is at an altitude of 1.4 mi above the earth’s surface.

From the skydiver’s viewpoint, what is the distance to the horizon?

Enter your answer as a decimal in the box. Round only your final answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

approx 3.3 miles

Explanation:

The distance to the horizon from an observer on the ground depends on the observer's height above the ground. Since the skydiver is 1.4 mi above the ground, we need to take this into account when calculating the distance to the horizon.

To find the distance to the horizon, we can use the following formula:

distance = √(2 * height * Earth's radius + height^2)

where "distance" is the distance to the horizon, "height" is the observer's height above the ground, and "Earth's radius" is the radius of the Earth.

Since the Earth has a radius of approximately 3959 miles, we can plug this value into the formula to find the distance to the horizon from the skydiver's viewpoint:

distance = √(2 * 1.4 * 3959 + 1.4^2)

This simplifies to:

distance = √(10509.6 + 1.96)

which is equal to:

distance = √10561.56

Finally, we can round this value to the nearest tenth to get the final answer:

distance ≈ 3.3 mi

Therefore, from the skydiver's viewpoint, the distance to the horizon is approximately 3.3 miles.

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