On May 26, 1934, a streamlined, stainless steel diesel train called the Zephyr set the world’s nonstop long-distance speed record for trains. Its run from Denver to Chicago took 13 hours, 4 minutes, 58 seconds, and was witnessed by more than a million people along the route. The total distance traveled was 1633.8 km. What was its average speed in km/h and m/s?
Solution:
The total time of travel is converted to seconds.
\begin{align*} \text{t} & =\left(13\:\text{h}\:\times \frac{3600\:\text{s}}{1\:\text{hr}}\right)+\left(4\:\text{mins}\:\times \frac{60\:\text{s}}{1\:\min }\right)+58\:\sec \\ \text{t} & =47\:098\:\text{seconds} \end{align*}
The total time of travel in hours
\text{t}=\left(47\:098\:\text{seconds}\right)\left(\frac{1\:\text{h}}{3600\:\sec }\right)=13.0828\:\text{hours}
Therefore, the average speed in km/hr is
\begin{align*} \text{speed in km/hr} & =\frac{\text{distance traveled}}{\text{time}} \\ & =\frac{1633.8\:\text{km}}{13.0828\:\text{hr}} \\ & =124.88\:\text{km/hr} \ \qquad \ \color{DarkOrange} \left( \text{Answer} \right) \end{align*}
And the average speed in m/s is
\begin{align*} \text{speed in m/s} & =\frac{1\:633\:800\:\text{m}}{47\:098\:\text{s}} \\ & =34.689\:\text{m/s} \ \qquad \ \color{DarkOrange} \left( \text{Answer} \right) \\ \end{align*}
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