A jetliner can fly 6.50 hours on a full load of fuel. Without any wind it flies at a speed of 2.15 102 m/s. The plane is to make a round-trip by heading due west for a certain distance, turning around, and then heading due east for the return trip. During the entire flight, however, the plane encounters a 57.2 m/s wind from the jet stream, which blows from west to east. What is the maximum distance that the plane can travel due west and just be able to return home?

Question

A jetliner can fly 6.50 hours on a full load of fuel. Without any wind it flies at a speed of 2.15  102 m/s. The plane is to make a round-trip by heading due west for a certain distance, turning around, and then heading due east for the return trip. During the entire flight, however, the plane encounters a 57.2 m/s wind from the jet stream, which blows from west to east. What is the maximum distance that the plane can travel due west and just be able to return home?

I need help with this asap and have tried everything I can think of and still keep getting the wrong answer.  Can anybody help me?

Anonymous · Answer

The author's cat enjoys chasing chipmunks in the front yard. In this game, the cat sits at one edge of a yard that is w = 32 m across (see figure), watching as chipmunks move toward the center. The cat can run faster than a chipmunk, and when a chipmunk moves more than a certain distance L from the far end of the yard, the cat knows that it can catch the chipmunk before the chipmunk disappears into the nearby woods. If the cat's top speed is 6.8 m/s and a chipmunk's top speed is 4.3 m/s, find L. Assume the chipmunk and cat move along the same straight-line path.