An airplane is flying horizontally at a constant speed. It drops a package out of doors below the plane, and continues to fly at the same constant speed. When the package hits the ground, where the airplane be? Air resistance is negligible.
1 Answer
Mar 2, 2018
The airplane will be directly above the package when it hits the ground.
Explanation:
The package had the same velocity as the plane when it was dropped. Newton's 1st Law says that "an object in motion tends to stay in motion, at the same velocity, in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force".
There only outside force acting on the package was its weight -- that force is straight down. The horizontal velocity that the plane gave the package continued (as Newton said it would), so as it fell, horizontally it kept pace with the plane.
I hope this helps,
Steve
