SOLUTION: Emergency relief supplies was dropped from a helicopter flying at a height of 7.5 m while traveling at 15 m/s. Calculate the horizontal distance traveled by the package before it h

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Question 1176899: Emergency relief supplies was dropped from a helicopter flying at a height of 7.5 m while traveling at 15 m/s. Calculate the horizontal distance traveled by the package before it hits the ground.
Answer by Theo(13342) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
the height that the package was dropped at is 7.5 meters.

the helicopter is traveling at a horizontal speed of 15 meters per second.

the distance a package dropped in free fall is modeled by the formula:

d = 1/2 * 9.80665 * s^2.

d is the distance
s is the number of seconds.
9.80665 * s^2 is the free fall acceleration due to gravity.

when d = 7.5 meters, the formula becomes:

7.5 = 1/2 * 9.80665 * s^2

multiply both sides of the equation by 2 and divide both sides of the equation by 9.80665 to get:

7.5 * 2 / 9.80665 = s^2

solve for s^2 to get:

s^2 = 7.5 * 2 / 9.80665 = 1.529574319.

take the square root of both sides of the equation to get:

s = sqrt(1.529574319) = 1.236759605.

that's how long it takes the package to hit the ground from a height of 7.5 meters in free fall.

since the helicopter is traveling a horizontal distance at the constant rate of 15 meters per second, then the package will have traveled a horizontal distance of 15 meters per second * 1.236759605 seconds = 18.55139407 meters when it hits the grouond.

if i did this correctly, 18.55139487 meters should be your answer.