Question

Good tennis players have exquisite knowledge and control of the magnitude and direction of a ball’s acceleration. In a soft shot, the head of a player’s racquet is vertical, so that it exerts a horizontal force on the ball of 4 N. (Note: tennis balls weigh 0.057 kg.) At what angle, relative to horizontal, will the ball accelerate?

Answer 1

When a tennis player hits a soft shot, the racquet exerts a horizontal force on the ball. The ball will accelerate at an angle of 0 degrees relative to the horizontal.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a tennis player hits a soft shot, the head of their racquet is vertical, exerting a horizontal force on the ball. In this case, the force exerted on the ball is 4 N. To find the angle at which the ball will accelerate, we can use the following formula:

Tan(angle) = vertical force/horizontal force

Plugging in the given values:

Tan(angle) = (0 N)/(4 N)

Tan(angle) = 0

Since the tangent of angle 0 is 0, the ball will accelerate at an angle of 0 degrees relative to the horizontal.