A disgruntled physics student sees the front end of his teacher's car below him at the base of a building. If the student is 5.0 m high above the car which is 3.0 m long and traveling only 3m/s to the right, will the apple of the student hit the teacher's car?
The short answer is yes, because it all depends on the initial velocity and direction of the apple throw.
Is that what the question wants? There are multiple answers unless some more constraints are imposed.
To determine if the apple will hit the teacher's car, we need to calculate the time it takes for the apple to fall from the student's height to the ground.
First, we can calculate the time it takes for the apple to hit the ground using the equation:
h = (1/2) * g * t^2
Where:
h = height of the student above the ground = 5.0 m
g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.8 m/s^2 (assuming we are on Earth)
t = time taken for the apple to fall
Rearranging the equation to solve for t, we get:
t = √(2h / g)
Substituting the values, we have:
t = √(2 * 5.0 m / 9.8 m/s^2) ≈ √(1.02) ≈ 1.01 s
Now, we can calculate the horizontal distance the car travels during this time.
Distance = velocity * time
Given that the velocity of the car is 3 m/s and the time is 1.01 s, we have:
Distance = 3 m/s * 1.01 s ≈ 3.03 m
Comparing the horizontal distance traveled by the car (3.03 m) with the length of the car (3.0 m), we can conclude that the apple will hit the teacher's car because it falls directly above it.