SOLUTION: A gentleman jumps out of an airplane without a parachute at 21,980 feet and lives to tell the tale. The function h(t)=-16t�+21,980 describes the relationship between height in feet

Question 1038550: A gentleman jumps out of an airplane without a parachute at 21,980 feet and lives to tell the tale. The function h(t)=-16t�+21,980 describes the relationship between height in feet and the time in seconds. How many seconds did he fall before reaching the ground?
Found 3 solutions by ankor@dixie-net.com, ikleyn, Othel:
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The function h(t)=-16t�+21,980 describes the relationship between height in feet and the time in seconds. How many seconds did he fall before reaching the ground?
:
Ground level, h=0, therefore
-16t^2 + 21980 = 0
-16t^2 = -21980
same as
16t^2 = 21980
t^2 = 21980/16
t^2 = 1373.75
t =
t = 37 secs falling to the ground
Answer by ikleyn(52781)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.A gentleman jumps out of an airplane without a parachute at 21,980 feet and lives to tell the tale.
The function h(t)=-16t�+21,980 describes the relationship between height in feet and the time in seconds.
How many seconds did he fall before reaching the ground?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The equation is = . The solution is t = .

Answer by Othel(27)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
We can imagine that h(t) in this equation represents the height that the gentleman was located at any point in his fall. We are looking for when the height is equal to 0 feet.

Subtracting 21980 from both sides...

Divide by (-16)...

and taking the square root...

Since we are looking for the time that it took, we only need the positive square root.
The time that it took to fall to the ground is approximately 37.06 seconds.
Check your answer!
I hope this helps! Learn on
RELATED QUESTIONS
The functions(t)=16t^2 models the distance, s(t), in feet that an object falls in t... (answered by Alan3354)
Ignoring wind resistance, the distance "d" in feet that a parachute falls in "t" seconds... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
A parachutist of mass 71 kg jumps from an airplane. After 10 seconds her parachute opens... (answered by jim_thompson5910)
Hi I was wondering if I could have help with this word problem: A skydiver jumps out... (answered by solver91311)
When a skydiver jumps from an airplane, her downward velocity, in feet per second, before (answered by jim_thompson5910)
A pair of skydivers jump out of an airplane 5.5 km. above the ground. The equation... (answered by bucky)
At 3:10P.M. a skydiver jumps from an airplane at an altitude of 15,000 feet. At 3:10:26... (answered by doukungfoo)
Hi, could you perhaps shed some light on this problem? "Sky divers are in free fall from... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
I have this problem that I would like someone to check my work: If a skydiver jumps... (answered by venugopalramana)
When a sky diver jumps from an airplane, her downward velocity, in feet per second,... (answered by bucky)