If hang time for a shot by a professional basketball player is 0.85 seconds, what is the vertical distance of the jump?

Question

Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

Hi Taylor,

In the total hang time, half of the time is going up and the other half is coming down, so we can use half of 0.85 sec or 0.425 sec for one direction.

A formula for this situation is distance (vertical) = (1/2)gt² where g is 32 ft/sec².

Then distance = (1/2) (32 ft/sec²) (0.425 sec)²

Distance = 2.9 Ft.

It always seems like the hang time is much longer when you watch these players!