Superman triangle question :)

baselramjet

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Superman takes off into the sky at an angle of 6 degrees traveling at the rate of 200feet/second. If he continues on his flight path at the same speed, how many minutes will it take to reach an altitude of 8,000 feet?
 
Hi, here's the picture I'm working on the explanation...

supermandk8.png
 
I forgot to put the speed in there but as you know it's 200 ft/sec.

Let's find \(\displaystyle AC\) using Law of Cosines:\(\displaystyle \L \;\frac{Sin\,84}{AC}\,=\,\frac{Sin\,6}{8,000}\)

\(\displaystyle \L \;\frac{.9945}{AC}\,=\,\frac{.1045}{8,000}\)

...\(\displaystyle \L \;AC\,\approx\,75916\,ft.\)

Now let's use Pythagorean Theorem :\(\displaystyle \L \;75916^2\,+\,8000^2\,=\,AB^2\)

\(\displaystyle \L \;AB\,\approx\,76336.4\,ft.\)

Now we can use the basic \(\displaystyle d\,=\,rt\):\(\displaystyle \L \;76336.4\,=\,200t\)

...Solve for \(\displaystyle \L \;t\,\) and convert to minutes.


I get approximately 6.4 minutes.
 
I was just waiting until you posted again:

Using the law of Sine:

\(\displaystyle \large \frac {C}{Sin(90)} = \frac {8000}{Sin(A)}\)

Following the law of sine:
numerator = side a
denominator = Sin(Angle A)

side c = 76534

76534/200 = 382.67 seconds / 60 = 6.377 min


Keep it simple smarty !!
 
Jonboy,

I got the same drawing of the triangle except that little c=200 so, this is how I went about it (from my book)

sin(6)=200/b

b=200sin(6)

b=(200)(.7206)

b=144.12

so, 144.12 divided by 60(seconds) equals 2.402

rounded, equals 2.40

so at 200ft per second it would take it 2 minutes 40 seconds to reach 8000 feet

How far off am I with this approach??? lol

Ashley
 
Ok maybe I should read the replies before I post next time..LOL

I see how you and jwpaine approached it and that makes a lot more sense!

Thank you guys!

Ashley
 
How far off am I with this approach??? lol

That would be around a [ (6.377 - 2) / (6.377) ] * 100 = 68% error :eek:

Just use the law of sine like Jonboy and I did. Dont need to do Pythagorean theorem either.
 
Superman takes off into the sky at an angle of 6 degrees traveling at the rate of 200feet/second. If he continues on his flight path at the same speed, how many minutes will it take to reach an altitude of 8,000 feet?

What about the effect of the curvature of the earth?

Let P be the point of departure.
Let H be the altirude target, 8000 ft.
Let C be the center of the earth.

The earths mean radius is 3963 miles or 20,924,640 feet making PC = 20,924,640 feet and HC 20,932,640 feet.

Angle HPC = 96º

Then, using triangle PHC with angles p, h and c:

sinh/20,924,640 = sin(96º)/20,932,640 making angle h = 83.7951º and angle PCH = .204854º.

Then, PH/sinc = 20,932,640/sin96 making PH = 75,254.2 feet.

At 200 fps, Superman reaches the 8000 ft. altitude point in 376.271 sec. = =6.271 minutes.

PH/sinc
 
baselramjet said:
Jonboy,

I got the same drawing of the triangle except that little c=200 so, this is how I went about it (from my book)

sin(6)=200/b

b=200sin(6)

b=(200)(.7206)

b=144.12

so, 144.12 divided by 60(seconds) equals 2.402

rounded, equals 2.40

so at 200ft per second it would take it 2 minutes 40 seconds to reach 8000 feet

How far off am I with this approach??? lol

Ashley

200 is the speed, not the distance but aside from that I like your idea the most:

sin(6) = 8000/c
c = 8000/sin(6)
t = c/200 = 8000/(200*sin(6)) = 40/sin(6) = 382.7 s
 
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