Question

An alien spaceship is 500 m above the ground and moving at a constant
velocity of 150 m/s upwards. How high above the ground is the ship after 5
seconds?

Answer 1

Answer: 1250 m

Explanation:

This situation is related to vertical movement and can be modelled by the following equation:

$y=y_{o}+V_{o}t + \frac{1}{2}at^{2}$

Where:

$y$ is the height of the alien spaceship at a given time

$y_{o}=50m$ is the initial height of the alien spaceship (we are told it was already 500 m above the ground)

$V_{o}=150 m/s$ is the initial velocity of the alien spaceship, that is also constant. This means the velocity is the same during the whole motion and there is no acceleration.

$t= 5s$ is the time

$a=0$ is the acceleration

Rewritting the equation with the given conditions:

$y=y_{o}+V_{o}t$

$y=500 m+(150 m/s)(5 s)$

$y=1250 m$