Please help me to solve this question. I'm still get stuck. A Ferris wheel has a circumference of 458 feet. If a trip around takes 30 seconds, find the average speed in miles per hour?. Round to the nearest tenth.

1 Answer
Feb 8, 2018

#10.4# miles per hour

Explanation:

The speed of the wheel can be found from:

#"speed" = "distance"/"time"#

Both of these have been given. The circumference of #458 ft# is the distance and #30sec# is the time.

Speed = #458/30 =15.266666..# feet per second

However the units are feet per sec while we are asked for miles per hour.

To convert: The wheel will travel #60# times further in a minute than in a second, and #60# times further in an hour than a minute.

There are #3# feet in #1# yard and #1760# yards to a mile.

We could convert the final answer above, or include the conversion as part of the calculation.

#"speed" = (458 xx 60 xx60)/(30 xx 3xx1760) = 10.4# miles per hour