Question

There are roughly 8000 wildfires in Canada each year. To help fight the fires, planes are used to drop water and fire retardants on the flames. One such plane flies horizontally over a fire at a speed of 60 m/s and drops a giant water balloon to help extinguish the fire. It flies at a height of 200 m, as shown in the picture. How far before the fire must it release the water?

I'm not sure if I had done this correctly. here's my math
horizontal givens: v1=60m/s
vertical givens: a=-9.81, v1=0, dy=-200

d=v1T+1/2AT^2
-200=0+1/2(-9.81)t^2
-200=-4.905t^2
40.77=t^2
6.39=t

d=vt
d=(60)(6.39)
d=383.13
is this correct?

Answer 1

I didn't check your math, but the procedure is correct.