Question

A golfer rips a tee shot from an elevated driving range tee-off such that the ball leaves horizontally. The ball lands exactly at the 57.2 meter marker, and was shot from the upper level (6.5 meters above the ground).

A) How long was the ball in the air?
B) How fast did the ball leave the tee?

Answer 1

• 1.152 seconds
• 49.66 meters per second

Explanation:

A) The ball is presumed to drop under the influence of gravity as described by the equation ...

h(t) = -4.9t^2 +6.5

The time for h(t) = 0 is ...

t = √(6.5/4.9) ≈ 1.1518 . . . . . seconds

The ball was in the air about 1.152 seconds.

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B) The ball traveled a horizontal distance of 57.2 m in 1.152 s, so had a horizontal speed of ...

speed = (57.2 m)/(1.1518 s) ≈ 49.66 m/s

The ball left the tee at about 49.66 m/s.