Final answer:
One second after a cannonball is launched horizontally with a barrel velocity of 60 m/s, it will be approximately 5 meters below the tower. However, based on the given choices, option D) 10 meters below the tower would be the closest, though it is not the correct distance.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a cannonball is launched horizontally from a height, it moves forward with the horizontal component of its velocity while simultaneously being subject to gravitational acceleration downward. The horizontal motion and vertical free-fall motion are independent. According to the question, the cannon has a barrel velocity of 60 m/s; this is the horizontal velocity of the cannonball. To find where the cannonball will be 1 second later, we need to consider both the horizontal and vertical motion. However, since no height information was provided and the question specifically asks how far below the tower, we should focus on the vertical motion.
In the vertical motion, the only force acting on the cannonball is gravity (assuming air resistance is neglected), which accelerates the cannonball downward at 9.81 m/s2. The distance traveled by an object in free fall can be calculated using the equation distance = 0.5 * g * t2, where g is the acceleration due to gravity and t is the time in seconds. At t = 1 second, the distance is 0.5 * 9.81 m/s2 * 1 s2 = 4.905 m, which is rounded to 5 meters because none of the choices reflect the exact value.
Given the provided choices, none of them is exactly 5 meters. However, the best choice is D) 10 meters below the tower, as it is the closest to the correct answer, albeit still incorrect. The actual distance the cannonball has fallen beneath the tower 1 second after being launched horizontally is approximately 5 meters, provided we ignore air resistance.