Noelle S.

asked • 10/21/22

Kinematics in One Dimension ( Free Fall)

A ball is dropped from a height of 60ft above ground. Find the time it takes to hit the ground.


Should I first convert 60ft. to meters? or just directly substitute it on the equation.

Luke J.

Nope, there is a version of g, acceleration on Earth due to gravity, that is already in units of ft / s^2, I believe it's ~32 ft/s^2 but I'll have to check
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10/21/22

Luke J.

Just checked, it's about 32.174 ft/s^2
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10/21/22

1 Expert Answer

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Ariel P. answered • 10/21/22

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You do not need to convert the height to meters, so long as you keep consistent units. So in this case, as long as you use the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity as 32.2 ft/s2 instead of 9.81 m/s2 the same equation will work, and you will get an answer in seconds.


Alternatively, you could first convert to meters, and use the metric value of 9.81 m/s2 -- whichever you find easiest!

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