Notes on 34, 43, and Lab

Xuxa Borealis
October 14, 2016

34
The fastest recorded pitch in Major League Baseball, thrown by Nolan Ryan in 1974, was clocked at 162.3
km/hr (100.8 mi/hr). If a pitch were thrown horizontally with this velocity, how far would the ball fall
vertically by the time it reached home plate, 18.3 m (60 ft) away?
First thing you want to do is convert the velocity 162.3 km/hr into m/s:
162.3 km
1 hr
1 min 1000 m
45.083 m

=
(1)
1 hr
60 min 60 sec
1 km
1s
So now your new horizontal velocity, v0x , is 45.083 m/s. So your goal is to find the change in height of the
pitched baseball. You will want to use the equation:

In this case, v0y

1
y y0 = v0y t + at2
2
is equal to zero so your equation simplifies to:

(2)

1 2
at
2
The acceleration is going to be a = 9.81 m/s. So now you have your equation for the distance the ball is
going to drop, but you need time, t. To find t you are going to use the horizontal velocity, v0x = 45.083 m/s,
and the horizontal range, x x0 = 18.3 m.
y y0 =

For horizontal motion, there is no gravity component so you use the equation:
x x0 = x0y t

(3)

Solve for t, and plug into your vertical motion equation, solve for y y0 , and done.

43
A spy in a speed boat is being chased down a river by government officials in a larger craft. If the spy travels
at 26 m/s and the officials travel at a speed of 15 m/s, how far from each other will the two vessels land
after they fly off a 5.0 m waterfall?
So much like 34, you are looking for a change in distance, except this time you are looking for x x0 .
x x0 = x0y t

(4)

But you dont have t, so you will have to start with the y direction to find time.

The initial y velocity for both boats is v0y

1
y y0 = v0y t + at2
2
= 0 m/s, so the equation simplifies.

(5)

1 2
at
2
Plug in 5 m = y y0 , also you have a positive acceleration in this case. If you make your change in height
negative, your acceleration is negative too, but that is another conversation. Solve for t, and plug it into
equation 4, and find the x x0 for both the spys boat and the officials boat.
y y0 =

Lab
Using a process similar to what you did for 34 & 43 , but based on our conversation I am not sure how exactly
your teacher is setting it up. So I am going to go through the process, and hopefully it helps, attatched on
a drawing in the email.