A bird drops a stick to the ground from a height of 60 ft. The function h=-16t^2+60 gives the stick's approximate height h above the ground, in feet, after t seconds. At about what time does the stick hit the ground?
The stick hits the ground at about
To find out when the stick hits the ground, we need to find the value of t when the height h is equal to 0.
We have the equation h = -16t^2 + 60.
Setting h = 0, we get:
0 = -16t^2 + 60.
We can rearrange this equation by subtracting 60 from both sides:
-60 = -16t^2.
Now divide both sides by -16 to isolate t^2:
t^2 = 60/16.
Simplifying further:
t^2 = 15/4.
To find the value of t, we take the square root of both sides:
t = ± √(15/4).
The stick cannot have a negative time, so we take the positive square root:
t = √(15/4).
The square root of 15 divided by 2 is approximately 1.94.
Therefore, the stick hits the ground at about 1.94 seconds.