Question

Usain Bolt ran the 2012 Olympic 100-meter race in 9.63 seconds. If he runs at this rate on a road with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour, how will his speed compare to the speed limit? Justify your answer. (25 mi/hr = 40,234 meters/hr)

Answer 1

We will solve this problem by converting Usain Bolt's speed from meters per second to meters per hour, then comparing that to the speed limit.
Let us see how many times 9.63 seconds can go into 1 hour.
1 hour is 60 minutes, and each minute is 60 seconds. So, 1 hour would be 60 * 60 seconds, which equals 3600 seconds.
3600/9.63 = 373.83
So, if Usain Bolt runs 100 meters in 9.63 seconds, this rate is equal to 373.83*100 meters in 3600 seconds
This gives us an hourly rate of 37,383 meters per hour
How does this compare to the speed limit of the road (25 miles per hour==40,234 meters per hour)?