The three-toed sloth is the slowest moving land mammal. On the ground, the sloth moves at an average speed of 0.037 m/s, considerably slower than the giant tortoise, which walks at 0.076 m/s. After 12 minutes of walking, how much further would the tortoise have gone relative to the sloth ?

Options

A. 11 m
B. 22 m
C. 14 m
D. 28 m

Answer

To solve the problem of how much further the tortoise has gone relative to the sloth after 12 minutes of walking, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Convert Time from Minutes to Seconds
First, we need to convert the time from minutes to seconds since the speeds are given in meters per second (m/s).

\[ \text{Time in seconds} = \text{Time in minutes} \times 60 \]
\[ \text{Time} = 12 \text{ minutes} \times 60 \text{ seconds/minute} = 720 \text{ seconds} \]

### Step 2: Calculate the Distance Traveled by the Tortoise
Next, we calculate the distance traveled by the tortoise using the formula:

\[ \text{Distance} = \text{Speed} \times \text{Time} \]
For the tortoise:
\[ \text{Distance}_{\text{tortoise}} = 0.076 \text{ m/s} \times 720 \text{ s} = 54.72 \text{ meters} \]

### Step 3: Calculate the Distance Traveled by the Sloth
Now, we calculate the distance traveled by the sloth using the same formula:

\[ \text{Distance}_{\text{sloth}} = 0.037 \text{ m/s} \times 720 \text{ s} = 26.64 \text{ meters} \]

### Step 4: Calculate the Relative Distance
To find out how much further the tortoise has gone relative to the sloth, we subtract the distance traveled by the sloth from the distance traveled by the tortoise:

\[ \text{Relative Distance} = \text{Distance}_{\text{tortoise}} - \text{Distance}_{\text{sloth}} \]
\[ \text{Relative Distance} = 54.72 \text{ meters} - 26.64 \text{ meters} = 28.08 \text{ meters} \]

### Step 5: Round the Result
Since the question asks for how much further the tortoise has gone, we can round the result to a suitable number of significant figures:

\[ \text{Relative Distance} \approx 28 \text{ meters} \]

### Final Answer
The tortoise would have gone approximately **28 meters** further than the sloth after 12 minutes of walking.

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