Question

Tall pacific coast redwood trees can reach heights of about 100 m. If air drag is negligibly small, how fast is a sequoia come moving when it reaches the ground if it dropped from the top of a 100 m tree?

Answer 1

Given data:

Height of the tree;

`h=100\text{ m}`

Initial velocity;

`u=0\text{ m/s}`

The velocity of sequoia when it reaches the ground is given as,

`v=\sqrt[]{u^2+2gh}`

Here, g is the acceleration due to gravity.

Substituting all known values,

`\begin{gathered} v=\sqrt[]{(0\text{ m/s})^2+2*(9.8\text{ m/s}^2)*(100\text{ m})} \\ \approx44.27\text{ m/s} \end{gathered}`

Therefore, sequoia will reach the ground with a velocity of 44.27 m/s.