Question

a firefighter in an airplane is trying to put out a fire by dropping a load of sand on it. she is flying horizontally toward the fire at an altitude of 100 meters traveling at a speed of 60m/s.

how far in advance of the fire must she release the sand in order for it to land on the fire ?

in what direction will the sand be traveling when it strikes the ground ?

will the airplane be behind the load of sand, directly above it, or ahead of it when it lands on the fire ? justify your answer

Answer 1

Time taken by the package to reach the ground-

using   where   (the initial velocity in the vertical direction)

calculating horizontal distance traveled in 4.51 seconds ,

The airplane must release the sand 270.6m in advance for the sand to land directly on the fire.

The sand will be travelling in the direction of the motion of the airplane.

The airplane will be ahead of the load of sand when the sand reaches the fire. Airplane is moving at a constant speed and the sand when it leaves the airplane starts facing a deceleration due to air resistance therefore the airplane will be ahead.

Hope this helps!