Question

A kayaker needs to paddle north across a 100-m-wide harbor. the tide is going out, creating a tidal current that flows to the east at 2.0 m/s. the kayaker can paddle with a speed of 3.0 m/s.

Answer 1

The velocity or speed of the kayaker going north at a speed of 3 m/s and that of the current going east at a speed of 2 m/s create a resultant speed of √13 m/s. The new distance that has to be traveled by the kayaker in order to move 100 m north is calculated through the equation,
                            3 / √13 = 100 / x 
The value of x is 120 m. The total time it will take for the kayaker to reach the destination is,
                                 t = 120 / √13 = 33.33 s