Question

2.) The lob in tennis is an effective tactic when your opponent is near the net. It consists of lofting the ball over his/her head, forcing them to move quickly away from the net. Suppose that you loft the ball with an initial speed of 15m/s at an angle of 50 degrees from the horizontal. At this moment your opponent is 10m from the ball. They begin to run away from you 0.3 seconds after the ball was launched hoping to reach the ball and hit it back to you at a height of 2.1m above where you hit it. What is the minimum average speed that your opponent must move so that he is in position to hit this ball

Answer 1

The minimum average speed the opponent must move so that he is in position to hit the ball is approximately 5.79 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

The given parameters of the ball are;

The initial speed of the ball = 15 m/s

The direction in which the ball is launched = 50° above the horizontal

The location of the other tennis player when the ball is launched = 10 m from the ball

The time at which the other tennis player begins to run = 0.3 seconds after the ball is launched

The height at which the ball is hit back = 2.1 m above the height from which the ball is launched

The vertical position, 'y', at time, 't', of a projectile motion is given as follows;

y = (u·sinθ)·t - 1/2·g·t²

When y = 2.1 m, we have;

2.1 = (15·sin(50°))·t - 1/2·9.8·t²

∴ 4.9·t² - (15·sin(50°))·t + 2.1 = 0

Solving with the aid of a graphing calculator function, we get;

t = 0.199776187257 s or t = 2.14525782198 s

Therefore, the ball is at 2.1 m above the start point on the other side of the court at t ≈ 2.145 seconds

The horizontal distance, 'x', the ball travels at t ≈ 2.145 seconds is given as follows;

x = u × cos(50°) × t = 15 × cos(50°) × 2.145 ≈ 20.682 m

The horizontal distance the ball travels at t ≈ 2.145 seconds, x ≈ 20.682 m

Therefore, we have;

The time the other player has to reach the ball, t₂ =2.145 s - 0.3 s ≈ 1.845 s

The distance the other player has to run, d = 20.682 m - 10 m = 10.682 m

The minimum average speed the other player has to move with,
`v_s` = d/t₂

∴
`v_s` = 10.682 m/(1.845 s) ≈ 5.78970189702 m/s ≈ 5.79 m/s

The minimum average speed the opponent must move so that he is in position to hit the ball,
`v_s` ≈ 5.79 m/s.