Question

PLEASE NO LINKS: A giraffe can run 32 miles per hour. What is this speed in feet per second? Round your answer to the nearest tenth. So what's the equation and the answer? I'm lost. Thanks.

Answer 1

46.9 f/s

Explanation:

In this, you use conversion factors.

`(32mi)/(1hr)` *
`(5280 ft)/(1mi)`*
`(1hr)/(60 min)`*
`(1 min)/(60 sec)`

So, you start with 32 mph. We have to turn the miles into feet, and so we know that there are 5,280 feet in a mile. To cancel out the mile, we use a conversion factor of
`(5280ft)/(1mi)` to cancel out the mile and convert it properly into feet. It cancels because there would be a mile in the numerator and denominator.

We repeat the same thing to turn the hours into minutes. By multiplying by a conversion factor
`(1hr)/(60min)`, you cancel out the hours and turn it into minutes.

This process works because when you multiply by the conversion factor, it's technically equal to 1 (since the numerator and denominator are equal, just different units) and allows you to switch between units. After you get to your desired unit, you can just keep it in that form, unless otherwise specified.

Once you get the end result, you have :
`(168960ft)/(3600sec)`, which simplifies to 46.9 feet per second.