A car drives off the edge of a 54 m high cliff with a horizontal velocity of 45 m/s. What is the amount of time it took for the car to hit the ground.

Question

asked Jul 13, 2024 221k views

1 Answer

Will Hancock · Answer 1 · 2024-07-16T22:00:11+0000

It took approximately 3.32 seconds for the car to hit the ground.

To determine the amount of time it took for the car to hit the ground, we can use the equation for vertical motion:

d = v0t + (1/2)gt2

where:

d is the vertical distance (54 m)

v0 is the initial vertical velocity (0 m/s since the car starts at rest vertically)

g is the acceleration due to gravity (-9.8 m/s2)

t is the time it takes for the car to hit the ground (unknown)

Substituting the given values into the equation:

54 = 0(t) + (1/2)(-9.8)(t2)

Expanding and simplifying:

54 = -4.9t2

Diving both sides by -4.9:

t2 = -54/-4.9

t2 = 11.0204

Taking the square root of both sides:

t ≈ 3.32 s

Therefore, it took approximately 3.32 seconds for the car to hit the ground.