Question

You learned that bald eagles fly up to 30 miles per hour and dive at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. Using this information, write and solve an equation to answer each question. a. What is the least amount of time that an eagle could take to fly 6 miles? b. An eagle a mile above the water spots a fish. What is the shortest time it would take the eagle to dive for the fish? Express your answer in seconds.

Short answer

a. The eagle would take at least 12 minutes to fly 6 miles. b. The eagle would take 36 seconds to dive 1 mile for the fish.

Step-by-step solution

Determine time for flying distance

To find out how long it would take for the eagle to fly 6 miles, divide the total distance by the manner of travel's speed. In this case, the eagle is flying, so the speed is 30 miles per hour. The calculation would be: \(Time = \frac{Distance}{Speed}\) = \( \frac{6 \text{ miles}}{30 \text{ miles per hour}}\) = 0.2 hours

Convert time into more appropriate units

The answer is in hours, while usually such short durations are expressed in minutes. To convert 0.2 hours into minutes, multiply by 60 (as there are 60 minutes in an hour). So, 0.2 hours * 60 minutes/hour = 12 minutes.

Determine time for diving distance

To find out how long it would take for the eagle to dive a mile, divide the total distance by the manner of travel's speed. In this case, the eagle is diving, so the speed is 100 miles per hour. The calculation would be \(Time = \frac{Distance}{Speed}\) = \( \frac{1 \text{ mile}}{100 \text{ miles per hour}}\) = 0.01 hours

Convert time into more appropriate units

The answer is in hours, but the problem is asking for the result in seconds. To convert 0.01 hours into seconds, do the following calculations: 0.01 hours * 60 minutes/hour = 0.6 minutes and 0.6 minutes * 60 seconds/minute = 36 seconds.