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Wiki Markup
Composition Setup
Note

This problem assumes familiarity with the earlier example problem, Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics).

Again suppose you are throwing a baseball, just as we assumed in Parts A and B of the earlier example. You release the ball with a perfectly horizontal velocity at a height of 1.5 m above the ground. The ball travels 5.0 m horizontally from the instant it leaves your hand until the instant it first contacts the ground.

Excerpt

How fast is the ball moving just before it impacts the ground?

Solution

System, Interactions and Models: As in Parts A and B of the earlier example

Toggle Cloak
idapp
Approach:

Cloak
idapp

The givens are the same as in Part B of the earlier example. Defining the same coordinate system as was used in that Part, we have:

Panel
titlegivens
}{composition-setup} {note}This problem assumes familiarity with the earlier example problem, [Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics)].{note} Again suppose you are throwing a baseball, just as we assumed in Parts A and B of the [earlier example|Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics)]. You release the ball with a perfectly horizontal velocity at a height of 1.5 m above the ground. The ball travels 5.0 m horizontally from the instant it leaves your hand until the instant it first contacts the ground. {excerpt}How fast is the ball moving just before it impacts the ground?{excerpt} h4. Solution *System, Interactions and Models:* As in Parts A and B of the [earlier example|Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics)] {toggle-cloak:id=app} *Approach:* {cloak:id=app} The givens are the same as in Part B of the earlier example. Defining the same coordinate system as was used in that Part, we have: {panel:title=givens}{latex}
Latex
\begin{large}\[ t_{\rm i} = \mbox{0 s} \] \[ x_{\rm i} = \mbox{0 m} \]\[ x = d = \mbox{5.0 m}\] \[ y_{\rm i} = \mbox{1.5 m} \] \[ y = \mbox{0 m}\]\[v_{y,{\rm i}} = \mbox{0 m/s} \] \[ a_{y} = -\mbox{9.8 m/s}^{2}\]\end{large}
{latex}{panel}

Further,

...

we

...

can

...

follow

...

the

...

same

...

steps

...

as

...

we

...

did

...

in

...

Part

...

B

...

from

...

before

...

to

...

find

...

the

...

x-velocity.

{
Latex
}\begin{large} \[ v_{x} = \frac{x}{t} = x \sqrt{\frac{a_{y}}{-2y_{\rm i}}} = (\mbox{5.0 m})\sqrt{\frac{-\mbox{9.8 m/s}^{2}}{-2(\mbox{1.5 m})}} = \mbox{9.0 m/s} \] \end{large}{latex}

This

...

time,

...

however,

...

we

...

are

...

not

...

done

...

yet.

...

The

...

x-velocity

...

is

...

only

...

half

...

of

...

the

...

story.

...

When

...

the

...

ball

...

is

...

first

...

released,

...

its

...


velocity

...

is

...

entirely

...

in

...

the

...

x

...

direction,

...

but

...

during

...

its

...

flight

...

it

...

acquires

...

a

...

y-component.

...

Image Added

When asked how fast something is traveling, we generally make no distinction between x- and y-components.

...

Instead,

...

we

...

want

...

to

...

know

...

the

...

size

...

of

...

the

...

total

...

velocity.

...

To

...

find

...

the

...

total

...

velocity,

...

we

...

must

...

use

...

the

...

Pythagorean

...

theorem:

Image Added

Latex


!vectriangle.png!

{latex}\begin{large} \[ v = \sqrt{v_{x}^{2} + v_{y}^{2}} \] \end{large}{latex}

There

...

are

...

many

...

ways

...

to

...

find

...

the

...

y-component

...

of

...

the

...

velocity.

...

One

...

possibility

...

is

...

to

...

use

...

the

...

equation:

{
Latex
} \begin{large} \[ v_{y}^{2} = v_{y,{\rm i}}^{2} + 2 a_{y}(y-y_{\rm i}) \] \end{large}{latex}

which,

...

after

...

substituting

...

zeros

...

gives:

{
Latex
} \begin{large} \[ v_{y} = \pm \sqrt{-2 a_{y}y_{\rm i}} = \pm \sqrt{-2(-\mbox{9.8 m/s}^{2})(1.5 m)}= \pm \mbox{5.4 m/s} \] \end{large}{latex}

In

...

this

...

case,

...

we

...

must

...

choose

...

the

...

negative

...

sign.

...

This

...

is

...

true

...

because

...

the

...

ball

...

is

...

clearly

...

moving

...

downward

...

(as

...

opposed

...

to

...

upward)

...

just

...

before

...

striking

...

the

...

ground.

...

Thus,

...

the

...

vertical

...

component

...

of

...

the

...

ball

...

is

...

negative

...

in

...

our

...

coordinate

...

system.

Latex
  

{latex}\begin{large} \[ v_{y} = - \mbox{5.4 m/s}\]\end{large}{latex}

We

...

therefore

...

find

...

that:

{
Latex
} \begin{large} \[ v = \sqrt{(\mbox{9.0 m/s})^{2} + (-\mbox{5.4 m/s})^{2}} = \mbox{10.5 m/s} \] \end{large}{latex}

Note

...

that

...

we

...

did

...

NOT

...

choose

...

between

...

plus

...

or

...

minus

...

this

...

time.

...

The

...

Pythagorean

...

theorem

...

does

...

not

...

have

...

one.

...

The

...

reason

...

for

...

this

...

is

...

that

...

the

...

Pythagorean

...

theorem

...

gives

...

lengths

...

(when

...

dealing

...

with

...

its

...

orginal

...

application),

...

or

...

in

...

the

...

case

...

of

...

vectors

...

like

...

velocity

...

or

...

acceleration,

...

magnitudes

...

.

...

Magnitudes

...

can

...

never

...

be

...

negative.

...

This

...

leads

...

us

...

to

...

an

...

important

...

aside.

...

Whenever

...

the

...

Pythagorean

...

theorem

...

is

...

being

...

used,

...

we

...

are

...

clearly

...

working

...

with

...

vectors

...

in

...

two

...

or

...

more

...

dimensions.

...

Once

...

we

...

have

...

moved

...

beyond

...

one

...

dimension,

...

it

...

is

...

impossible

...

to

...

unambiguously

...

report

...

the

...

direction

...

of

...

a

...

vector

...

by

...

assigning

...

a

...

plus

...

or

...

minus

...

sign

...

to

...

the

...

magnitude.

...

The

...

baseball

...

of

...

this

...

problem

...

is

...

a

...

good

...

example.

...

It

...

is

...

clearly

...

moving

...

to

...

the

...

right

...

(positive

...

in

...

our

...

coordinate

...

system)

...

and

...

down

...

(negative

...

in

...

our

...

coordinate

...

system).

...

To

...

illustrate

...

the

...

appropriate

...

way

...

to

...

report

...

direction,

...

let

...

us

...

now

...

find

...

the

...

velocity

...

of

...

the

...

ball

...

just

...

before

...

contacting

...

the

...

ground.

...

We

...

have

...

the

...

vector

...

triangle:

Image Added

Note

Note that we have removed the negative sign from the

!veltriangle.png! {note}Note that we have removed the negative sign from the

y-component.

This

is

correct,

because

the

*

arrow

*

is

used

in

the

drawing

to

denote

the

direction.

An

arrow

*

and

*

a

negative

sign

can

result

in

confusion,

in

just

the

same

way

as

reporting

a

velocity

of

"

--

2

m/s

west"

can

result

in

confusion.

{note}

We

...

can

...

now

...

find

...

the

...

angle

...

shown

...

in

...

the

...

figure

...

by

...

using

...

trigonometry.

...

One

...

possibility

...

is

...

to

...

use:

{
Latex
}\begin{large} \[ \tan^{-1}\left(\frac{\mbox{5.4 m/s}}{\mbox{9.0 m/s}}\right) = 31^{\circ} \] \end{large}{latex}

{info}Can you get the same result for θ using the arccosine or arcsine functions?{info}

Reporting the vector is a little tricky here, since we are not told which direction the ball is thrown (north? south? east? west?).  The best we can do is to say the final velocity is 10.5 m/s at 31° *below the horizontal*.

{cloak:app}
Info

Can you get the same result for θ using the arccosine or arcsine functions?

Reporting the vector is a little tricky here, since we are not told which direction the ball is thrown (north? south? east? west?). The best we can do is to say the final velocity is 10.5 m/s at 31° below the horizontal.

Cloak
app
app