Anyone good with math/physics...

120 feet to the ground.

 

It can really vary...I'll try it on the school's physics programme tomorrow.

 

Which way is the piece of ice falling, less cross section will cause less force acted on the ice by the wind. Unless you're treating the block of ice as a particle then the size and orientation of the ice wouldn't matter.

 

Werd

 

Right, and in what direction (vector) is the wind blowing, and does the ice piece have any initial horizontal velocity component, etc. etc.

 

I'm assuming the piece is merely dropped, so the x-component is 0 initially, this would also mean the y-component is also 0 (a = -9.8m/s^2, don't have the ft/sec^2 here) due to the droppage (lol, droppage)

Next we should assume (given no further details) that the wind is simply an x-component vector with a value of 50mph (we can ignore direction here)

and I dont know why I'm doing this, I have a Calc 3 exam to study for.

 

It depends on how much of the ice's surface is making contact with the wind. The greater the area exposed to the wind, the more affect the wind will have on the ice, blowing it further from it's destination and adding to the travel distance.

Can't properly answer the question...

 

Well, yes and no. It really depends on what level physics he's in. For all we know the answer could be simply 50mph x time (in hours) it takes to fall, it would be ridiculous but you never know. Of course, I'm speculating that this is for a class assignment and the OP is not actually attempting to do this.

 

Thats a good question to ask the city of Toronto. They shut down the highway all day because of falling ice from the CN Tower.

 

Thats my answer

 

Sure, or you could consider it's 120' if the Ice is relatively unaffected by the wind, which means it has to fall with the small 3" side facing the wind, but this isn't likely since if a piece of ice fell the upwinds from the fall would turn it sideways, hence it would be affected by the 50MPH cross winds. How far will a piece of ice travel off course in 50MPH winds? Well you'd have to figure out the weight of the ice first, then the drag coefficient, bla bla...

My answer is "Who cares?"

 

Wouldn't this be kind of like standing next to a fan, holding a playing card out at arm's length, and dropping the card 10 times? It would never follow the same trajectory twice, and you wouldn't be able to mathematically predict where it would land anyway. It's way too variable.

 

Not if you disregard certain varaibles that physics questions usually state before hand. Which leads us back to our initial answers that we need more info to answer the question.

 

The answer would be a range between falling 120 ft to whatever the maximum effect of a 50 mph wind would be if the sheet were facing in the direction with maximal impact.

The ice was a 0 mph when it started. The maximum it could have been travelling at impact would be 50 mph. We don't now that it could make it to that velocity in that short a distance, but we'll assume that it did. And we don't know how long it would take to reach 50 mph, but assuming that the progression was linerar the average speed is 25 mph.

An object travelling at 25 mph goes 36.666! feet per second. So if you can tell me the time it takes an object to fall 120 ft, we can come up with a range of distance that if probably fell.

We need to know what the terminal velocity is but we don't have enough information per the following quote:

When an object falls a long distance through air, it eventually reaches a maximum downward velocity known as its terminal velocity. At terminal velocity, the upward force of wind resistance exactly balances the object's downward weight and it coasts downward at a steady speed. Although gravity hasn't disappeared, the object doesn't accelerate downward anymore.

Different objects have different terminal velocities. A fluffy object that catches the wind strongly but has little weight descends slowly because forces of wind resistance and weight balance one another at a low speed. A dense, compact object descends quickly because it must moves extremely fast through the air before wind resistance balances its weight.
So to answer your question, an object's terminal velocity depends directly on wind resistance and weight. However, an object's weight depends on the strength of gravity and on the object's mass-the more mass the object has or the stronger the gravity acting on it, the more the object weighs. Therefore, an object's terminal velocity depends on all four concepts: wind resistance, weight, gravity, and mass.

It's a calculous problem:

Velocity of a falling object

Example Ever since you started your calculus class you've suffered from blinding headaches. Nothing helps. Acupuncture, drugs, counseling, you've tried them all, but the headaches get worse and worse. The pain is unbearable, and you decide to end it all. Your drive to the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge and climb over the safety rail, 400 feet above the water. With that pain, life is not worth living, so you fling your calculus text (which you carry everywhere) over the edge, and jump out after it. Your height in feet over the water after t seconds is given by the function h(t) = 400 - 16t2.

a. How long till you hit the water?

5 seconds.

Substituting in the formula we get:
t^2=120/16
t^2=7.5 sec
t=SQRT 7.5 sec = 2.73816 sec

2.73816 sec times 36.6 feet per sec = 100.4158 ft.

Therefore, I estimate that the total distance travelled is in a range between 120.1 feet and (120.0 + 100.4158 ft) or 220.4158 feet.

Discuss[b/]

 

Well I'm glad I'm done with school..

 

It depends on the shape of the ice. if it is rectangular 2x3 feet then determine the thickness based on the weight. Further, the resultant friction with the air (until it reaches the same speed as the wind) will cause some melting and shape deformation, much like when snow turns to rain, although this effect will be minimal during a quick 120 foot fall. Also, the whole cellular technology does not work very well and the people in that industry (cell tower construction) are the most impatient people I have ever worked with. I would say take the tower down, you never know who might get hurt from falling ice.

BT

 

I guess it wasn't that important of a question seeing as how he hasn't responded yet even with all our creative answers.

 

This doesn't really make all that much sense, nor does it have anything to do with integrals. But I give you credit and your answer is good enough .

 

My brain is bleeding

 

Travel 100 feet in which direction? It has to travel at least 120 feet unless you some kind of antigravity machine.

 

Easy


120 ft







(margin of error 30%)

 

No, in all seriousness, there is no simple formula with the given parameters. Even with more detailed information, there still is no simple formula. Way too many input parameters.

Can it travel 100' to the side on it's way down? I'd say it's possible for sure.