Friday, December 4, 2015

How long would it take for a ball dropped from a height of 18 m to strike the ground? Assume it bounces to 40% of its height. How long does take to...

When the ball is dropped, there is a gravitational force of attraction acting on it that accelerates it towards the ground. The average acceleration due to gravity on the Earth is 9.8 m/s^2.


If a body starts with velocity u m/s and is accelerated at a m/s, the distance traveled by it in time t seconds is equal to D = u*t + (1/2)*a*t^2


In the problem, the ball is dropped from a height of 18 m. Its initial velocity is 0 m/s. The time taken by the ball to fall 18 m is t where 18 = 0*t + (1/2)*9.8*t^2


t = `sqrt(18/4.9)` = 1.916 s


The ball takes 1.916 s to strike the ground.


After striking the ground, the ball bounces up and rises to a height 40% of the height it is dropped from. After the first bounce it reaches 7.2 m. When it falls again, the total distance traveled when it strikes the ground is 18+7.2*7.2 = 32.4 m. The ball has traveled 30 m before it reaches the ground the second time.


It travels the first 18 m in 1.916 s. As the ball only rises to 40% of its height, the velocity with which it starts in the upward direction after striking the ground the first time is u = `sqrt(2*9.8*7.2)` = 11.879 m/s. The time taken by the ball to rise up to 7.2 m is equal to 1.21 s. The time taken by the ball to travel the last 4.8 m 0.9897 s. The total time taken by the ball to travel 30 m is 4.1157 s.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800 can be called the “Revolution of 1800” because it was the first time in America’s short history that pow...