Question

Please help me to solve this question. I'm still get stuck. A Ferris wheel has a circumference of 458 feet. If a trip around takes 30 seconds, find the average speed in miles per hour?. Round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

`10.4` miles per hour

Explanation:

The speed of the wheel can be found from:

`"speed" = "distance"/"time"`

Both of these have been given. The circumference of `458 ft` is the distance and `30sec` is the time.

Speed = `458/30 =15.266666..` feet per second

However the units are feet per sec while we are asked for miles per hour.

To convert: The wheel will travel `60` times further in a minute than in a second, and `60` times further in an hour than a minute.

There are `3` feet in `1` yard and `1760` yards to a mile.

We could convert the final answer above, or include the conversion as part of the calculation.

`"speed" = (458 xx 60 xx60)/(30 xx 3xx1760) = 10.4` miles per hour