P h y s i c s C a t F a l l i n g L a b

ThaneMcGrath

Ifacatisrunningandjumpingfrom237footcliffinakiddypoolwe wouldfirstneedtoknowhowfarheisrunningfromwherehestarted runningtotheedgeofthecliff.Thenwehavetofigureouthowlongittook himtoruntotheedgeofthecliff.Afterwehavetofigureouttheaverage speedofhowfastthecatisrunning,wecalculatethevelocityofthecat falling.Tocalculatethevelocityofthecatwetakethedistanceofthecats runandmultiplyitbythetimeittakeshimorhertoreachthecliffedgeso hecanjump.Thenextthingyouwoulddoiscalculatethevelocityofthe catfallingsowecanfindthehangtime.Tofindthehangtimeyouhaveto takethetimeittookthecattoruntothecliffedgeanddivideitby4.9. Whenyougetthatansweryouhavetosquareit.Afteryousquareityou havefiguredoutthehangtimeinseconds.Thefinalstepwehaveto calculateiswheretoputthekiddypoolsothecatwontdie.Todothatyou havetotakethevelocityandmultiplyitbythehangtime.Oncewegetthat numberwemeasurefromthebottomofthecliff,thenumberofunitswe calculatedinthepreviousstep.