traveling at 500 feet per min, how long would it take for an 18.187 inch box to pass a single point in space?

Question

If a conveyor is running at 500 feet per min and there is a check point along the conveyor. how much time in (seconds) would that check point be blocked or occupied by the box? the box is 18.187 inches in length.

Answer 1

Good afternoon Alex,

There is an old maxim in mathematics and science: "Let the units guide you!" What this means is that if you understand the units of the information given, it will always lead you to the correct answer guaranteed!

The information this problem presents is as follows:

The speed of the box is 500 feet/minute

The length of this box is 18.187 inches

We would like to know the time elapsed as this 18.187 inch long box passes over any single point in space in SECONDS, which means our answer will be a time = t seconds

First, we will convert the speed of the box from feet per minute into inches per second:

500 feet/minute * 12 inches/foot * 1 minute/60 seconds = 100 inches per second

This is the speed of the box in inches per second!

Imagine the box passing through a single point in space, it will travel 18.187 inches total. We know the speed of the box, and we know the distance it will travel, now we must compute the time it takes to travel that distance. We do this by dividing the distance by the speed, let those units guide you!

(18.187inches) / (100 inches/second) = .18187 seconds

That is your answer!