A ball is thrown straight up from the edge of the roof of a building. A second ball is dropped from the roof 1.00slater. Ignore air resistance. (a) If the height of the building is20.0m, what must the initial speed of the first ball be if both are to hit the ground at the same time? On the same graph, sketch the positions of both balls as a function of time, measured from when the first ball is thrown. Consider the same situation, but now let the initial speedv0of the first ball be given and treat the heightof the building as an unknown. (b) What must the height of the building be for both balls to reach the ground at the same time if (i)localid="1655791911691" v0is9.5m/s? (c) Ifv0is greater than some valuevmax, no value ofexists that allows both balls to hit the ground at the same time. Solve forvmax. The valuevmaxhas a simple physical interpretation. What is it? (d) Ifv0is less than some valuevmin, no value ofexists that allows both balls to hit the ground at the same time. Solve forvmin. The valuevminalso has a simple physical interpretation. What is it?

Short Answer

Expert verified

a)The initial speed of the first ball when both the balls hit the ground is.

The graph has been drawn below-

b)The height of the building at different velocities are0.411mand1152.04m

respectively.

c)The value of vmaxis9.8m/s.

d)The value ofvminis4.9m/s.

Step by step solution

01

Identification of given data

  • The height of the building is,h=20.00m.
  • The initial speed of the ball,v0.
  • The time at which second ball is dropped is,t0=1.00s.
02

Concept of maximum speed

When an athlete reaches their top speed, they are said to have achieved their maximum potential.

Athletes' acceleration varies as they vary the magnitude of their movement, since velocity has magnitude and direction both.

03

Determine the initial speed of the first ball

a)

As, +Yis upward, then acceleration of each ball is,

ay=-g

The height equation of two ball will be,

y1=h+v0t1-12gt12y2=h-12g22 …1)

Here, y1andy2are the displacement of the first and the second ball, h is the height, v0is the initial speed, t1is the initial time and t2is the final time and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

As the second ball has been dropped after 1s, then the final time becomes,

t2=t1-1

Substituting the values in the equation 1),

y2=h-12gt1-12

Here, t0=1.0s

When two ball hits the groundy1=y2=0

h+V0t1-12g12=h-129t1-12

Solving the above equation,

v0t1-12gt12=-12gt12+gt1-12gv0t1=gt1--12gt1=g2g-v0

Substituting the above value in the equation 1),

0=h+v0g2g-v0-12gg2g-v02h=12gg2-4v0g-v04g-v02=12g12g2-v0g0+v02g-v02

Hence, further as,

h=12g,12g-v02g-v0v022h-g-v04gh-g2+g22h-g4=0

Substituting the values of h and g in the above equation,

30.2v02-678.96v0+3606.302=0

Solving the equation, the value of v0becomes 8.17m/sand14.6m/s

Here, the value of v0is8.17m/s. The reason that the second value is not taken is that after ,the first ball is rising and the second ball started to fall.

Thus, the initial speed of the first ball when both the balls hit the ground is8.17m/s.

The graph has been drawn below-

04

Step 4:Determine the height of the building

The equation of the height can be expressed as,

h=12g12g-v02g-v02 …2)

The height of the building in both cases can be evaluated,

Substituting the values in the equation 2),

(I) The height of the building when velocity of the ball is,V0=6.0m/s

role="math" localid="1655792673267" h1=9.8m/s24.9m/s-6.0m/s9.8m/s-6.0m/s2=0.411m

(ii) The height of the building when the velocity of ball is,v09.5m/s

h2=9.8m/s24.9m/s-9.5m/s9.8m/s-9.5m/s2=1152.04m

Thus, the height of the building at different velocities is0.411mand1152.04m respectively.

05

Evaluate  vmax when v0is greater than some value

c)

The height h approaches infinite when v0approaches9.8m/s, which corresponds to a relative velocity approaching zero when the second ball is in the air. No matter what v0is, the first ball cannot catch the second one. Hence, the value of vmaxis 9.8m/s.

Thus, the value ofvmaxis9.8m/s.

06

Evaluate the vmin when v0 is less thanvmin

d)

When the speed of v0reches4.9m/s, the height decreases to zero. When the second ball leaves, the first ball will be nearer the top of the roof than it was when it was released. As soon as the first ball is launched, it will have already gone through the ceiling on its way down, meaning that the second ball will never be able to catch up. Hence, the value of vminis4.9m/s.

Thus, the value of isvminis4.9m/s.

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