Question

3.(2 pts) Ignore air resistance for this question. An airplane is flying in level flight 100 m above the ground at 3.3. It drops one package and then 5 seconds later drops another. How far apart do the packages land? How long does it take each package to fall to the ground from when it was released? m

Answer 1

Along horizontal direction:

v_o = velocity of each package = 3.3 m/s

a = acceleration = 0 m/s² (since there is no force along the x-direction)

t = time taken between the two packages = 5 sec

x = distance between the two packages

Using the kinematics equation

x = v_o t + (0.5) a t²

x = (3.3) (5) + (0.5) (0) (5)²

x = 16.5 m

Along vertical direction :

v_o = velocity of each package = 0 m/s

a = acceleration = 9.8 m/s²   

t = time taken by each package

y = vertical height traveled by each package = 100 m

Using the kinematics equation

y = v_o t + (0.5) a t²

100 = (0) t + (0.5) (9.8) t²

t = 4.5 sec