HOW DO YOU CANCULATE THE SPEED OF A FALLING PLANE. THIS IS MY COLLEGE STUPID QUESTION. HOW CAN I KNOW THE SPEED OF THE PLANE DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNTH OF PASSENGER IN THE PLANES AND HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO FALL IF THE PLANES IS GOING TO CRASH. IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE MORE PEOPLE IN THE PLANE THE FASTER IT'LL FALL... CAN ANYONE UNDERSTAND THIS AND HELP ME PLEASE.............
2007-05-21 05:08:57 · 5 answers · asked by peru_jhonatan 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
let s=speed, g= gravity, t= time.
s = gt, this is your formula.
The speed of a body in free fall does not depend on the weight of the body but on its high.
2007-05-21 05:18:50 · answer #1 · answered by gartfield72 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree completely with you.
You need a lot of information to calculate the speed of a falling plane.
Not only the weight of the entire plane , but also how is it falling ? with the nose down is probably the fastest way to fall for a plane, then the 'thickness' of the air,the velocity of the wind, the direction of the wind, is it raining ? are the engines on or off ? what type of engines ?
Usually the problem for students is made easier : you can consider the plane as a point-mass and ignore the friction with the air in that case the formula is : v(t) = v(0) - 9.8*t
where t is time, and v is speed.
at time t = 0 the initial falling speed v(0) should be given you can assume this is zero.
after 10 seconds falling
the (falling velocity ) is
v(t) = v(0) - 9.8*t =
0 - 9.8*10 = 10*9.8 = 98 meters / second.
2007-05-21 05:38:10 · answer #2 · answered by gjmb1960 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The plane will accelerate towards Earth because of gravity. The acceleration of gravity on an object is constant and independent of the object's mass. So no matter how many people are in the plane, it will take the same time to fall to the Earth.
Use the equation:
v = v0 - gt
v: velocity after time t
v0: initial velocity of the plane TOWARDS THE EARTH, NOT THE SPEED OF THE PLANE PARALLEL TO THE EARTH'S SURFACE
g: acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2 or 32.2 ft/s^2)
t: time the plane has been falling.
If there are too many unknowns to solve this equation, couple it with the following equation:
x-x0 = v0*t - gt^2
x-x0: altitude of the plane before it begins to fall
the other variables are the same.
2007-05-21 05:16:28 · answer #3 · answered by mark r 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's been awhile since I've done any physics, but if two things of different masses are dropped, they drop at the same speed. So as long as the engines aren't on to drive the plane into the ground, it will fall at the same speed no matter how many passengers are in it. Because of gravity, everything falls at an acceleration of 9.8m/s2.
Speed = (9.8)*(time to fall) ---------units m/s
distance fallen = (1/2)*(9.8)*(time to fall squared)------units m
If you know how high the plane is, you can use the distance equation to find how long it takes, and then you can find how fast it falls.
2007-05-21 05:30:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dont know.Sorry.
2007-05-21 05:12:55 · answer #5 · answered by Noel 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋