Question

A baseball is thrown at an angle of 20° relative to the ground at a speed of 25 m/s if the ball was caught 50 m from the thrower how long was it in the air ?

2.1 s
0.5 s
10 s
5 s

Answer 1

2.1 s

Step-by-step explanation:

The motion of the ball is a projectile motion. We know that the horizontal range of the ball is

`d = 50 m`

And that the initial speed of the ball is

`u=25 m/s`

at an angle of

`\theta=20^(\circ)`

So, the horizontal speed of the ball (which is constant during the entire motion) is

`u_x = u cos \theta = 25 \cdot cos 20^(\circ) = 23.5 m/s`

And since the horizontal range is 50 m, the time taken for the ball to cover this distance was

`t=(d)/(u_x)=(50)/(23.5)=2.1 s`

which is the time the ball spent in air.