Solution to Example from Module 3:

A ball rolls off of a table with a speed of 3.2 m/s. The table is 1.5 m high.

Known:
vix = 3.2 m/s

y = -1.5 m (because the ball will travel down)

viy = 0 m/s (because initially the ball only has speed in the horizontal direction)
ay = g = -9.81 m/s2

a) When does the ball hit the ground?

Unknown: t = ?

y = v iy t + 0.5gt 2
−1.5m = (0m / s)(t) + (0.5)( −9.81m / s2 )(t 2 )
−1.5m = ( −4.905m / s2 )(t 2 )
−1.5m
t2 =
−4.905m / s2
t 2 = 0.3058s2
t = 0.3058s2
t = 0.5530

The ball will hit the ground 0.6 seconds after rolling off the table. (Don’t forget to
finalize your answer to the proper number of significant digits)

b) How far away from the base of the table does the ball travel?

Unknown: x = ?

And remember, don’t use rounded answers in subsequent equations. So let

t = 0.5530 seconds and not t = 0.6 seconds.

x = vxt
x = (3.2m / s)(0.5530s)
x = 1.7696m

The ball will land 1.8m from the base of the table.

c) With what speed does the ball hit the floor?

Unknown: vf = ?
We are not looking for vfx or vfy. We will, however, need to use these values to resolve
the vector and solve for vf.

First we need to solve for vfy:

v fy = v iy + at
v fy = 0m / s + ( −9.81m / s2 )(0.5530s)
v fy = −5.4249m / s

We already know that vx = 3.2 m/s

So if we know the x- and y-components, we can solve for the resolved vector:
v f 2 = v fx 2 + v fy 2

v f = v fx 2 + v fy 2 Vfx = 3.2m/s

v f = (3.2m / s)2 + ( −5.4249m / s)2

v f = 10.24m2 / s2 + 29.4295m2 / s2
v f = 39.6695m2 / s2
v f = 6.2984m / s
Vf = 6.3 m/s
The ball with hit the ground at a speed of 6.3 m/s. Vfy = -5.4 m/s