Question

At a particular instant in the flight the glider is losing 1.00 m of vertical height for every 6.00 m that it goes forward horizontally. At this instant, the horizontal speed of the glider is 12.5 m s–1. Calculate the velocity of the glider?

I tried v=d/t. The answer is 12.7 m/s. How can i get that?

Answer 1

Given Horizontal speed `|vecv_h|=12.5\ ms^-1`
Time taken to go `6.00\ m` forward horizontally `t="Distance"/"Speed"`

`=>t=6.00/12.5=0.48\ s`

In the same time glider drops down `1.00\ m`
`:.` Vertical speed `|vecv_v|=1.00/0.48=2.08bar3\ ms^-1`

Now magnitude of velocity `|vecv|=sqrt((12.5^2)+(2.08bar3)^2)`

`=>|vecv|=12.7\ ms^-1`, rounded to one decimal place.

Is this you need or direction of velocity also to be found?