Problema Solution

you throw a baseball as high into the air as you can. the initial vertical velocity is 50 feet per second and the initial height is 3 feet. how long until the baseball hits the ground?

Answer provided by our tutors

to calculate position with respect to time, 'f(t)', we use:

f(t) = -9.8(m/s^2)t^2 + vt + d


where '-9.8(m/s^2)' is gravitational acceleration, 't' is time in seconds, 'v' is initial velocity in m/s and 'd' is initial height in meters


50 ft/s * [0.3048(m/s)]/[1(ft/s)] = 15.24 m/s


3 feet * 0.3048 m /ft = 0.9144 m


we want to solve for height of zero:

0 = -9.8t^2 + 15.24t + 0.9144

solving for 't' we have a positive value of t=1.6129


in approximately 1.6 seconds, the baseball will hit the ground