it was only 180 seconds after the ship passed by the submarine (thinking ir was a friend) that the submarine fireda torpedo at it. If the ship is traveling at 35 feet per second and the torpedo is chasing it at 65 feet per second, how many seconds will it take the torpedo to catch the ship?

Answer 1

Let the time it takes the torpedo to catch the ship be x seconds.

Since the ship had a head start of 180 seconds, the distance traveled by the ship in x seconds is 35x feet and the distance traveled by the torpedo in x seconds is 65x feet.

Since the torpedo is catching up to the ship, the distance traveled by the torpedo is equal to the distance traveled by the ship plus the initial 180-second head start.

Therefore, we can write the equation:
65x = 35x + 65*180

Solving for x:
65x = 35x + 11700
65x - 35x = 11700
30x = 11700
x = 11700 / 30
x = 390

Therefore, it will take the torpedo 390 seconds to catch the ship.