Question

A rescue airplane is diving at an angle of 37o below the horizontal with a speed of 250 m/s. It releases a survival package when it is at an altitude of 600 m. If air resistance is ignored, the horizontal distance of the point of impact from the plane at the moment of the package's release is

Answer 1

Answer:

796.2 m.

Explanation:

A sketch of the given question forms a right angled triangle with two given sides and a non included angle. Applying the appropriate trigonometric function, we have;

Tan θ = $\frac{opposite}{adjacent}$

Let the horizontal distance required be represented by x, so that;

Tan $37^{o}$ = $\frac{600}{x}$

0.7536 = $\frac{600}{x}$

⇒ x = $\frac{600}{0.7536}$

      = 796.1783

x = 796.2 m

Thus, the horizontal distance of the point of impact is 796.2 m.