Question

An airplane is flying at a speed of 200 m/s in level flight at an altitude of 800 m. A package is to be dropped from the airplane to land on a target on the ground. At what horizontal distance away from the target should the package be released so that it lands on the target?

Answer 1

Answer:

2560m or 2.56km (rounded to 3 significant figures)

Explanation:

First, list all known and desired values/variables (initial vertical velocity is 0 as the plane is kept level and vertical acceleration is just gravity):

$Vertical \ velocity \ (\frac{m}{s} ) = u_{v} = 0 \\\\ Horizontal \ velocity \ (\frac{m}{s} ) = u_{h} = 200\\\\ Vertical \ acceleration \ (\frac{m}{s^{2} } ) = a_{v} = 9.8 \\\\ Horizontal \ acceleration \ (\frac{m}{s^{2} } ) = a_{h} = 0 \\\\ Vertical \ displacement \ (m) = s_{v} = 800 \\\\ Horizontal \ displacement \ (m) = s_{h}$

The horizontal displacement is going to be the distance travelled, horizontally of course, once the package is released;

First thing to understand is that the vertical and horizontal components are to be dealt with separately because they don't affect each other;

Since there is no horizontal acceleration (ignoring air resistance), we simply require a velocity and time to find the horizontal displacement, using the formula v = d/t (or speed = distance/time);

What we have is the horizontal velocity but we don't have the time taken;

One thing we know is that the time elapsed for the vertical fall of 800m and for the horizontal displacement must be the same;

What we do, therefore, is find the time taken for the vertical displacement using the formula, s = ut + ¹/₂·at², since we know the vertical velocity, height and acceleration:

800 = (0)t + ¹/₂·(9.8)t²

800 = 4.9t²

t² = 163.26...

t = 12.77...

We now have the time taken for the vertical fall and the horizontal displacement, we can use this with the horizontal velocity we know already and get the horizontal displacement:

$u_{h} = \frac{s_{h} }{t} \\\\ 200 = \frac{s_{h} }{12.77...} \\\\ s_{h} = 200(12.77...) \\\\ s_{h} = 2555.5...$