Swimming in the ocean a rip current flowing at 2m/s starts pulling you out to sea. You try swimming parallel to the shore at 0.5m/s. What is your actual velocity and direction of travel? If you swim for 30s how much father out to sea (perpendicular to shore) are you?

Question

anonymous · Answer

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From my drawing, u can see that there are 2 forces acting on the man. 
To find the actual velocity. Calculate the resultant velocity, using Pythagoras theorem.
2^2 + 0.5^2 = F^2
F=  2.06m/s

To find direction,

tan x = opp/adj
= 0.5/ 2

x = 14.4 degrees.

After swimming for 30secs , how much further are you from the shore?
it is just, 30 secs * 2m/s = 60m 
Since traveling in the direction away from shore is unaffected by u swimming in a perpendicular direction