A rock is shot vertically upward from the edge of the top of a tall building.The rock reaches its maximum height above the top of the building 1.60 s after being shot ?
1 Answer
The initial upward velocity of the rock is
Explanation:
FULL QUESTION
A rock is shot vertically upward from the edge of the top of a tall building.The rock reaches its maximum height above the top of the building 1.60 s after being shot.
Then, after barely missing the edge of the building as it falls downward, the rock strikes the ground 8.00 s after it is launched.
In SI units:
(a) with what upward velocity is the rock shot,
(b) what maximum height above the top of the building is reached by the rock, and
(c) how tall is the building?
At maximum height, the velocity of the rock is equal to zero. Since you know how much time is needed for the rock to reach maximum height, you can say that
#underbrace(v_"top")_(color(blue)(=0)) = v_0 - g * t_"up"#
This means that you have
#v_0 = g * t_"up" = 9.8"m"/"s"^color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2))) * 1.60color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"))) = color(green)("15.7 m/s"#
The distance covered by the rock while it moves upward is
#h = v_0 * t_"up" - 1/2 * g * t_"up"^2#
#h = 15.7"m"/color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"))) * 1.6color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"))) - 1/2 * 9.8"m"/color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"^2))) * 1.6^2 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"^2))) = color(green)("12.6 m")#
To find the height of the building,
SInce it takes the rock a total of 8.00 s to fall to the ground from the moment of its launch, you can say that
#t_"down" = t_"total" - t_"up"#
#t_"down" = 8.00 - 1.60 = "6.4 s"#
This means that you can write
#h_"max" = underbrace(v_"top")_(color(blue)(=0)) * t_"down" + 1/2 * g * t_"down"^2#
#h_"max" = 1/2 * 9.8"m"/color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"^2))) * 6.4^2color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"^2))) = color(green)("200.7 m")#
Since maximum height is equal to the height of the building ,
#h_"max" = H + h implies H = h_"max" - h#
#H = 200.7 - 12.6 = color(green)("188 m")#
SIDE NOTE The values are rounded to three sig figs.