Shortest Time to Cross a River – Rankers Physics
Topic: Kinematics
Subtopic: Relative Motion in Two Dimension

Shortest Time to Cross a River

A swimmer wants to cross the river in shortest possible time, The angle \(theta\) made by the swimmer with flow of river is
\(\theta = 0^\circ\)
\(\theta > \frac{\pi}{2}\)
\(\theta = \frac{\pi}{2}\)
\(0 < \theta < \frac{\pi}{2}\)

Solution:

The time to cross a river is \(t = \frac{d}{v \sin \theta}\), where \(theta\) is the angle with the river flow. For \(t\) to be minimum, \(sin \theta\) must be maximum, which occurs at \(\theta = 90^\circ = \frac{\pi}{2}\).

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