How Long Before Overhead Should Supplies Be Dropped from a Plane?

[Natali]

Homework Statement

The pilot of an airplane traveling 160 km/h wants to drop supplies to flood victims isolated on a patch of land 120 m below. The supplies should be dropped how many seconds before the plane is directly overhead?

Homework Equations

equations of motion

The Attempt at a Solution

i don't know what 2 plug in...

 

[LowlyPion]

Homework Statement

The pilot of an airplane traveling 160 km/h wants to drop supplies to flood victims isolated on a patch of land 120 m below. The supplies should be dropped how many seconds before the plane is directly overhead?

Homework Equations

equations of motion

The Attempt at a Solution

i don't know what 2 plug in...

They want to know how long it takes to drop 160m.

X = 1/2 g t²

 

[baba89]

I would approach this problem by using the equations of motion to determine the time it takes for the supplies to reach the ground after being dropped from the airplane. The equation for displacement (d) is d=1/2at^2, where a is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2) and t is the time in seconds. Since the supplies are being dropped from a height of 120 m, we can set d=120 m and solve for t. This gives us t= 5.5 seconds. Therefore, the supplies should be dropped 5.5 seconds before the plane is directly overhead in order to reach the ground at the same time as the plane.