Related Rates Exercises: Solve the following problems.

1) Suppose an object is moving along a path described by 𝑦 = 𝑥 2 , that is, it is moving on

2) A plane is flying directly away from you at 500 𝑚𝑝ℎ at an altitude of 3 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠. How fast
is the plane’s distance from you increasing at the moment when the plane is flying over a
point on the ground 4 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 from you?

3) You are inflating a spherical balloon at the rate of 7 𝑐𝑚3 ⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 . How fast is its radius
increasing when the radius is 4 𝑐𝑚?

4) Water is poured into a conical container at the rate of 10 𝑐𝑚3 ⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 . The cone points
directly down, and it has a height of 30 𝑐𝑚 and a base radius of 10 𝑐𝑚; How fast is the
water level rising when the water is 4 𝑐𝑚 deep (at its deepest point)?

5) A swing consists of a board at the end of a 10 𝑓𝑡 long rope. Think of the board as a
point P at the end of the rope, and let Q be the point of attachment at the other end.
Suppose that the swing is directly below Q at 𝑡 = 0, and is being pushed by someone
who walks at 6 𝑓𝑡⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 from left to right. Find (a) how fast the swing is rising after 1 𝑠𝑒𝑐;
(b) the angular speed of the rope in 𝑑𝑒𝑔⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 after 1 𝑠𝑒𝑐.
6) A road running north to south crosses a road going east to west at the point P. Car A is
driving north along the first road, and car B is driving east along the second road. At a
particular time car A is 10 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 to the north of P and traveling at 80 𝑘𝑚⁄ℎ𝑟 , while
car B is 15 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 to the east of P and traveling at 100 𝑘𝑚⁄ℎ𝑟. How fast is the
distance between the two cars changing?

7) Air is being pumped into a spherical balloon at a constant rate of 3 𝑐𝑚3 ⁄𝑠. How fast is
the radius of the balloon increasing when the radius reaches 5 𝑐𝑚?

8) A cylindrical tank standing upright (with one circular base on the ground) has radius
20 𝑐𝑚. How fast does the water level in the tank drop when the water is being drained at
3 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 (1 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 0.001 𝑚3).

9) A ladder 13 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 long rests on horizontal ground and leans against a vertical wall.
The foot of the ladder is pulled away from the wall at the rate of 0.6 𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐. How fast is
the top sliding down the wall when the foot of the ladder is 5 𝑚 from the wall?

10) A ladder 13 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 long rests on horizontal ground and leans against a vertical wall.
The top of the ladder is being pulled up the wall at 0.1 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑. How fast is the
foot of the ladder approaching the wall when the foot of the ladder is 5 𝑚 from the wall?

11) A rotating beacon is located 2 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 out in the water. Let A be the point on the shore
that is closest to the beacon. As the beacon rotates at 10 𝑟𝑒𝑣⁄𝑚𝑖𝑛, the beam of light
sweeps down the shore once each time it revolves. Assume that the shore is straight.
How fast is the point where the beam hits the shore moving at an instant when the beam
is lighting up a point 2 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 along the shore from the point A?

12) A baseball diamond is a square 90 𝑓𝑡 on a side. A player runs from first base to second
base at 15 𝑓𝑡⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 . At what rate is the player’s distance from third base decreasing when
she is half way from first to second base?

13) Sand is poured onto a surface at 15 𝑐𝑚3 ⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 , forming a conical pile whose base
diameter is always equal to its altitude. How fast is the altitude of the pile increasing when
the pile is 3 𝑐𝑚 high?

14) A boat is pulled in to a dock by a rope with one end attached to the front of the boat
and the other end passing through a ring attached to the dock at a point 5 𝑓𝑡 higher than
the front of the boat. The rope is being pulled through the ring at the rate of 0.6 𝑓𝑡⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 .
How fast is the boat approaching the dock when 13 𝑓𝑡 of rope are out?

15) A balloon is at a height of 50 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, and is rising at the constant rate of 5 𝑚⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 . A
bicyclist passes beneath it, traveling in a straight line at the constant speed of 10 𝑚⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐.
How fast is the distance between the bicyclist and the balloon increasing 2 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 later?

16) A pyramid-shaped vat has square cross-section and stands on its tip. The dimensions
at the top are 2 𝑚 × 2 𝑚, and the depth is 5 𝑚. If water is flowing into the vat at 3 𝑚3 ⁄𝑚𝑖𝑛,
how fast is the water level rising when the depth of water (at the deepest point) is 4 𝑚?
1
Note: 𝑉𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑒 = 3 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ

17) A woman 5 ft tall walks at the rate of 3.5 𝑓𝑡⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 away from a streetlight that is 12 𝑓𝑡
above the ground. At what rate is the tip of her shadow moving? At what rate is her
shadow lengthening?

18) A man 1.8 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 tall walks at the rate of 1 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 toward a streetlight that
is 4 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 above the ground. At what rate is the tip of his shadow moving? At what rate
is his shadow shortening?
19) A police helicopter is flying at 150 𝑚𝑝ℎ at a constant altitude of 0.5 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 above a
straight road. The pilot uses radar to determine that an oncoming car is at a distance of
exactly 1 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 from the helicopter, and that this distance is decreasing at 190 𝑚𝑝ℎ. Find
the speed of the car.

20) A police helicopter is flying at 200 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 at a constant altitude of 1 𝑘𝑚
above a straight road. The pilot uses radar to determine that an oncoming car is at a
distance of exactly 2 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 from the helicopter, and that this distance is decreasing
at 250 𝑘𝑝ℎ. Find the speed of the car.

21) A light shines from the top of a pole 20 𝑚 high. An object is dropped from the same
height from a point 10 𝑚 away, so that its height at time 𝑡 seconds is ℎ(𝑡) = 20 − 4.9𝑡 2 .
How fast is the object’s shadow moving on the ground one second later?