Question

You kick a soccer ball off the ground with a velocity of 15 m/s at an angle of 40° above the horizontal

What is the velocity of the ball at the highest point of its trajectory?

Answer 1

At its maximum height, the ball will have zero vertical velocity, so the ball's velocity at this point is exactly equal to its horizontal velocity.

At any time t, the horizontal component of its velocity is

v = (15 m/s) cos(40°) ≈ 11.49 m/s

so at the highest point of its trajectory, the ball has a velocity of about 11.49 m/s pointed in the positive horizontal direction.