A bomb is dropped from an airplane at an altitude of 14,400 feet. How long will it take to reach the ground?

Question

(Because of the motion of the plane, the fall will not be vertical, but the time will be the same as that for a vertical fall.) The plane is moving at 600 miles per hour. How far will the bomb move horizontally after it is released from the plane? Calculus question

Answer 1

First you need the formula for a falling body... the distance formula (assuming it started with a vertical velocity of zero) is:

f(t) = (gt²)/2

So plug in f(t) = 14,400 and g = 32 ft./s² and solve for t.

14400 = 32 t² / 2
14400 = 16 t²
t² = 14400 / 16
t² = 900
t = 30 seconds

So it took 30 seconds to fall. Since it keeps the same horizontal velocity as the plane (again assuming no acceleration) you just have to figure how far it will go in 30 seconds.

600 mph = 600 miles / 3600 seconds = 1 mile / 6 seconds

30 seconds * 1/6 mile/second = 5 miles horizontally.

Answer 2

There is not enough information available to answer this question.

Air resistance and terminal velocity should be included.

Answer 3

14,400 days