Two tourists start walking across the Golden Gate Bridge at the same time but from opposite ends. One of the tourists is walking at a leisurely rate of 0.9 meters per second, and the other is walking at a rate of 1.1 meters per second. Given that the bridge is 2,738 meters in length, how long will it take for the tourists to meet?

Question

minutes and
seconds

Answer 1

To determine how long it will take for the two tourists to meet while walking towards each other on the Golden Gate Bridge, we first need to calculate their combined walking speed.

The leisurely tourist walks at a rate of 0.9 meters per second, and the other tourist walks at a rate of 1.1 meters per second. Therefore, their combined speed is:

\[ 0.9 , \text{m/s} + 1.1 , \text{m/s} = 2.0 , \text{m/s} \]

Next, we need to find out how long it will take for them to cover the entire length of the bridge, which is 2,738 meters. We can use the formula:

\[ \text{Time} = \frac{\text{Distance}}{\text{Speed}} \]

Substituting in the values we have:

\[ \text{Time} = \frac{2,738 , \text{meters}}{2.0 , \text{m/s}} = 1,369 , \text{seconds} \]

To convert the time from seconds to minutes and seconds, we can divide by 60:

1. Calculate the number of minutes:

\[ \text{Minutes} = \left\lfloor \frac{1,369}{60} \right\rfloor = 22 , \text{minutes} \]

2. Calculate the remaining seconds:

\[ \text{Seconds} = 1,369 - (22 \times 60) = 1,369 - 1,320 = 49 , \text{seconds} \]

Thus, the tourists will meet after 22 minutes and 49 seconds.