Please answer it in a sentence from the picture below?

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1 Answer
May 12, 2018

7 seconds in air and 5 seconds in water

Explanation:

First thing to do is to draw a diagram.

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Let the distance from the cliff to the sea be #h "m"#, and the time taken to drop this be #t"s"#. This would mean the distance from the sea to the seabed is #(127-h)"m"# and the time taken is #"(12-t)"s"#

We can use #"speed"="distance"/"time"# to make two equations to solve simultaneously.

For air:

#16=h/t#
#h=16t" " (1) #

For water:

#3=(127-h)/(12-t)#
#3(12-t)=127-h#
#36-3t=127-h#
#-3t=91-h#
#3t=h-91" " (2)#

Substituting #(1)# into #(2)# we get:

#3t=16t-91#
#-13t=-91#
#13t=91#
#t=7#

So the stone drops for 7 seconds in air.

Since the total time the stone drops for is #12"s"#, the time taken for it to fall in the water #=12-7=5"s"#