Physics Challenge Question 7: The Stressed-out Swimmer

Due in class 10/27/2008

A swimmer is trying to swim across
a river. The river is 100 m wide. 50
m down the river from his starting
point, a dangerous waterfall is
threatening
to
drown
any
unsuspecting swimmers.
The swimmer can swim at a speed of
1 m/s relative to the water (well call
this vswimmer). The current pushes
him towards the waterfall at a
speed vwater (see arrows on picture).

Drawing for part 1-3:

vswimmer

vtotal
100 m
vwater

50 m

Part 1 (1 point)
The swimmer starts out aiming himself straight for the other shore. How long will it
take him to reach the shore?
Part 2 (1 point)
If he aims straight for the other shore, how fast can the current ( vwater) be, if he is to
survive the swim?
Part 3 (1 point)
As viewed from the shore, what is the total speed of the swimmer? (Hint: From the
shore, his path will look like a diagonal line. You probably know from math class how to
find the hypotenuse if you know the two catheters of a right-angled triangle.)

Drawing for part 4:

Part 4 (2 points) (challenging!)

The current in the river turns out to
be 0.8 m/s, too strong for the
swimmer to make the other shore if
vtotal
just aiming straight for the opposite
shore.
The swimmer changesvswimmer
100 m
vwater
strategy and decides to swim at an
angle, so that part of his efforts
cancels the current. As a result, he
moves straight across the river
towards the other shore, as viewed
50 m
from the shore (see drawing).
How long will it now take him to reach the opposite shore? (Hint: vswimmer is still 1 m/s)