Question

The Westin Stamford Hotel in Detroit is 228m tall. If a worker on the roof drops a sandwich, how long does it take the sandwich to hit the ground, assuming there is no air resistance? How would air resistance affect the answer?

Answer 1

Height of the hotel room is given as

`H = 228 m`

now as it falls freely from the top

its initial speed is given as

`v_i = 0`

also the acceleration is given as

`a = g = 9.8 m/s^2`

now we will use kinematics here

`d = v_i*t + (1)/(2)at^2`

`228 = 0 + (1)/(2)*9.8*t^2`

`228 = 4.9 t^2`

`t^2 = 46.53`

`t = 6.82 s`

so it will take t = 6.82 s to reach the bottom