A major-league pitcher can throw a baseball

Question

A major-league pitcher can throw a baseball in excess of 40.5 m/s. If a ball is thrown horizontally at this speed, how much will it drop by the time it reaches a catcher who is 17.2 m away from the point of release?

Answer 1

Horizontal speed = 40.5 m/s

Time to reach catcher = (17.2 / 40.5) s.

During that time ball accelerates downwards because of gravity (a= g = 9.8 m/s/s downwards)

So if s = distance dropped, s = ut + 0.5at²

u = 0 (no initial vertical speed)

t = (17.2 / 40.5) s

a = 9.8 m/s/s

You can calculate s.

As our data (17.2, 40.5, 9.8) has 3, 3, 2 significant figures and the minimum of these is 2, you should specify the result of the calculation to 2 significant figures.