Tennis Ball Projectile Motion

Question

A tennis ball is served from the back line of the court such that it leaves the racket 2.4m above the ground in a horizontal direction at a speed of 22.3m/s (50 mi/h).

(a) Will the ball cross a 0.91-m-high net 11.9 m in front of the server?

(b) Will the ball land in the service court, which is within 6.4 m of the net on the other side of the net?

Answer 1

Hi Anvi,

I like to define all of my givens in terms of their respective directions.

For x:

x_i = 0

v_x_i = 22.3*cos(theta)

a_x = 0

For y:

y_i = 2.4

v_y_i = 22.3*sin(theta)

a_y = -g

For part a we want to know if the ball will be above height y_f = .91 at x_f = 11.9.

Take a look at the projectile motion equations, and see if you can use the given values to find out if the y_f is satisfied. Hope this helps.