Question

You hit a golf ball off the ground. The ball followed a parabolic flight path, and after 5 seconds, it reached a maximum height of 4 feet and hit the ground after 10 seconds. What is the approximate time it took for the golf ball to reach the ground after reaching its maximum height?

A. 5 seconds
B. 7.5 seconds
C. 10 seconds
D. 15 seconds

Answer 1

The golf ball took the same amount of time to fall from its maximum height back to the ground as it did to reach that height, which is 5 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how long it took for the golf ball to reach the ground after reaching its maximum height, we must understand the symmetrical nature of a parabolic flight path in projectile motion. Since it took 5 seconds for the ball to reach its maximum height and the total flight time is 10 seconds, we can infer that it will take the same amount of time to fall from the maximum height back to the ground. This is because the ascent and descent times are equal in a projectile that lands at the same elevation from which it was launched.

Therefore, the approximate time it took for the golf ball to reach the ground after reaching its maximum height is 5 seconds, which is the remaining half of the total flight time. To clarify, the total flight time is 10 seconds, and after reaching the peak at 5 seconds, it would take the same duration of 5 seconds to come back down.