What will be the horizontal displacement of the backpack as it fall? Should you move your car?

Question

A small plane is flying at 85 m/s as it passes directly over your brand-new car when a passenger drops his backpack. It takes 9 seconds for the backpack to fall to the ground.

 

You are very worried that the backpack will land on your new car and you wonder if you should move it.

 

What will be the horizontal displacement of the backpack as it fall? Should you move your car?

Answer 1

If you neglect air resistance, the horizontal speed of the falling backpack is the same as the speed of the plane at the time the backpack was dropped, which is 85 m/s.

Horizontal displacement:

x = vt = (85 m/s)(9s) = ? m

You should be able to finish from here.