Question

8. One of the fastest recorded pitches in major league baseball, thrown by Tim Lincecum in 2009, was clocked at 101.0 mi/h (Fig. P3.8). If a pitch were thrown horizontally with this veloc- ity, how far would the ball fall vertically by the time it reached home plate, 60.5 ft away? Figure P3.8 Tim Lincecum throws a baseball. 9·W The best leaper in the animal kingdom is the puma, which can jump to a height of 3.7 m when leaving the ground at an angle of 45°. With what speed must the animal leave the ground to reach that height?

Answer 1

101 mi/hr = 45.151 m/s

60.5 ft = 18.44 m

time taken to cover a horizontal distance of 18.44 m is:

t = d/u_x = 0.4084 s

in this time, the vertical distance traveled is:

h = u_yt + (1/2)gt² = 0 + (1/2)(9.8)(0.4084)² = 0.8173 m = 2.681 ft

this is how far the ball falls vertically by the time it reaches the home plate.