- #1
Notaphysicsmajor
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Homework Statement
Hello there physicsforums,
I have a problem that I'd like feedback on as I'm not sure if I had solved it or approached it correctly.
A ball that is traveling 5m/s is 30 meters above a person who is standing still. How fast must the person travel in order to catch the ball?
To minimize confusion and misinterpretation I've decided to upload a visual of the problem, as well as my work involved:
http://imgur.com/m1tGOIA
Homework Equations
(Final velocity)^2 = (Initial velocity)^2 + 2 (acceleration)(change of distance)
(change of distance) = (Initial velocity)(time) + .5 (acceleration)(time)^2
The Attempt at a Solution
My logic:
My first approach was to find the time it would take the ball to get from the top of its trajectory to the person.
Once I found the time, I used that time to calculate how far the ball would have traveled on the x axis.
Knowing how far the ball traveled in the x-axis and how long it took, I then found the speed at which the person standing still would need to travel in order to cover that amount of distance in the certain amount of time.
I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but this was the only logical approach I could come up with.
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