A potato gun is fired horizontally from a height of 1.5 meters with the potato launched at 25 m/s.

Question

A potato gun is fired horizontally from a height of 1.5 meters with the potato launched at 25 m/s.
a. What is the time of flight of the potato?
b. How far from the gun will the potato land?

Answer 1

(a)

 

Set the height equal to gt²/2 and solve for t.

 

h = gt²/2

 

t = √(2h/g)

 

h = 1.5 m

g = 9.8 m/s²

 

Plug in the numbers and get t in seconds.

 

(b)

 

x = v_xt

 

v_x = 25 m/s

t = result from part (a)

 

Plug in the numbers and get x in meters.