Judy, by chance, spots a potted plant falling outside the window at 1.6 m/s. Further down the same building, Judy’s boyfriend clocks the pot at 80 m/s. How far apart are the friends? The acceleration of gravity is 9.8 m/s^2. Answer in units of m. Plz help
To find the distance between the friends, we can use the following equation of motion:
d = (v² - u²) / (2a)
Here,
d = distance between the friends
v = velocity of Judy's boyfriend (80 m/s)
u = velocity of the potted plant (1.6 m/s)
a = acceleration due to gravity (-9.8 m/s²)
First, we need to calculate the acceleration of the potted plant when it falls. Since the acceleration due to gravity acts in the downward direction, it is negative (-9.8 m/s²).
Next, we substitute the values into the equation:
d = (80² - 1.6²) / (2*(-9.8))
Simplifying further:
d = (6400 - 2.56) / (-19.6)
d = 6347.44 / -19.6
d ≈ -323.83 m
The negative sign indicates that the friends are below each other. To get the positive distance between them, we take the absolute value:
distance = |d| ≈ 323.83 m
Therefore, the friends are approximately 323.83 meters apart.