A team of zoologists collected data on the velocity of falcons using a speedometer. The speedometer measured that a falcon was flying at 68 mph. The zoologists are interested in finding out how many hours it would take for the falcon to fly 52,800 feet if it continues to fly at a constant speed of 68 mph. In order to use units to verify your rearrangement of the formula, what process needs to be done? Enter the value that corresponds to your answer.

Question

Option #1: miles

Option #2: yards

Option #3: hours

Answer 1

To determine how many hours it would take for the falcon to fly 52,800 feet at a constant speed of 68 mph, we first need to ensure that all units are compatible.

1. Convert 52,800 feet to miles:

   • There are 5,280 feet in a mile. To convert feet to miles, use the following formula: \[ \text{miles} = \frac{\text{feet}}{5280} \] \[ \text{miles} = \frac{52800}{5280} = 10 \text{ miles} \]

2. Next, we can use the formula for time, which is: \[ \text{time} = \frac{\text{distance}}{\text{speed}} \] Here, distance will be in miles and speed is already in miles per hour. Thus: \[ \text{time} = \frac{10 \text{ miles}}{68 \text{ mph}} \approx 0.147 \text{ hours} \]

Since we are interested in the units involved in the calculation of time, the primary unit we are focusing on for this calculation is hours.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

Option #3: hours.