Question

A baseball pitcher throws a ball at 90.0 mi/h in the horizontal direction. How far does the ball fall vertically by the time it reaches home plate, which is a horizontal distance of 60.5 ft away? (Express your answer in units of feet. Neglect air resistance.)

Answer 1

Answer:

Vertical distance=  3.3803ft

Explanation:

First with the speed of the ball and the distance traveled horizontally we can determine the flight time to reach the plate:

Velocity= (90 mi/h) × (1 mile/5280ft) = 475200ft/h

Distance= Velocity × time⇒ time= 60.5ft / (475200ft/h) = 0.00012731h

time=  0.00012731h × (3600s/h)= 0.458316s

With this time we can determine the distance traveled vertically taking into account that its initial vertical velocity is zero and its acceleration is that of gravity, 9.81m/s²:

Vertical distance= (1/2) × 9.81 (m/s²) × (0.458316s)²=1.0303m

Vertical distance= 1.0303m × (1ft/0.3048m) = 3.3803ft

This is the vertical distance traveled by the ball from the time it is thrown by the pitcher until it reaches the plate, regardless of air resistance.