Question

At the start of a basketball game, a referee tosses a basketball straight into the air by giving it some initial speed. After being given that speed, the ball reaches a maximum height of 3.60 m above where it started.

(a) Using conservation of energy, find the ball's initial speed.
m/s

(b) Using conservation of energy, find the height of the ball when it has a speed of 2.6 m/s. m

Answer 1

a) Let the initial speed is v.

From the conservation of energy, the kinetic energy converts into potential energy.

Let the mass of the ball is m.

Given that the maximum height is h=3.60 m.

  

  

The initial speed is 8.4 m/s.

b) Let the height of the ball is H when the speed of the ball is v₁=2.6 m/s.

The initial speed is v=8.4 m/s.

From the conservation of the energy

  

  

The height of the ball when the speed of the ball is 2.6 m/s is 3.255 meters approx.