Question

A physics student with too much free time drops a watermelon from a roof of a building, hears the sound of the watermelon going "splat" 2.5s later. How high is the building? The speed of sound is 340m/s. You may ignore air resistance.

Answer 1

Answer:

28.6260196842 m

Explanation:

Let h be the height of the building

t = Time taken by the watermelon to fall to the ground

Time taken to hear the sound is 2.5 seconds

Time taken by the sound to travel the height of the cliff = 2.5-t

Speed of sound in air = 340 m/s

For the watermelon falling

$s=ut+\frac{1}{2}at^2\\\Rightarrow h=0t+\frac{1}{2}\times 9.81\times t^2\\\Rightarrow h=\frac{1}{2}\times 9.81\times t^2$

For the sound

Distance = Speed × Time

$\text{Distance}=340\times (2.5-t)$

Here, distance traveled by the stone and sound is equal

$\frac{1}{2}\times 9.81\times t^2=340\times (2.5-t)\\\Rightarrow 4.905t^2=340\times (2.5-t)\\\Rightarrow t^2=\frac{340}{4.905}(2.5-t)\\\Rightarrow t^2+69.3170234455t-173.292558614=0$

$t=\frac{-69.31702\dots +\sqrt{69.31702\dots ^2-4\cdot \:1\cdot \left(-173.29255\dots \right)}}{2\cdot \:1},\:t=\frac{-69.31702\dots -\sqrt{69.31702\dots ^2-4\cdot \:1\cdot \left(-173.29255\dots \right)}}{2\cdot \:1}\\\Rightarrow t=2.4158\ s\ or\ -71\ seconds$

The time taken to fall down is 2.4158 seconds

$h=\frac{1}{2}\times 9.81\times 2.4158^2=28.6260196842\ m$

Height of the buidling is 28.6260196842 m