Question

Tectonic plates are large segments of the Earth's crust that move slowly. Suppose one such plate has an average speed of 2.0 cm per year.

What distance does it move in 80 seconds at this speed?

Answer 1

`d=2.5367* 10^(-6)\ cm`

Step-by-step explanation:

Given:

• speed of tectonic plate,
  `v=2\ cm.yr^(-1)=(2)/(365* 24* 60 * 60)\ cm.s^(-1)`

• time of recording the plate movement,
  `t=80\ s`

Now the distance moved by the tectonic plate in the stipulated times:

`d=v.t`

`d=(1)/(365* 12* 3600) * 80`

`d=2.5367* 10^(-6)\ cm`

Tectonic plates are the mass rock from of the earth's uppermost mantle and the crust which show similar behavior of movement with respect to the other such groups of lithosphere.