Question

A plane is flying horizontally at a height of $5000m$ with a speed of $500m/s$. At time $t=0$, a bombshell is fired from a point on the ground exactly below the plane, at angle $\theta$ from the horizontal. The bombshell hits the plane in 10 seconds. What is the value of $cot\theta$ ?

Answer 1

In 10 seconds, plane would have moved 500X10=5000m horizontally. Also, bombshell has traveled that much distance horizontally. Thus, from geometry, we see that $tan\theta =\frac{H}{Distance}=\frac{5000}{5000}=1$. Thus, $cot\theta =1$