Question

A passenger at the rear of a train that is travelling at 15m/s relative to the earth throws a baseball with a speed of 15m/s in the opposite direction of the train. What is the velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth as it leaves the thrower's hand?

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m/s

Answer 1

The velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth as it leaves the thrower's hand is 0 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth as it leaves the thrower's hand, we need to consider the velocity of the train and the velocity of the baseball.

Given:

Velocity of the train (v_train) = 15 m/s (positive, since it's in the forward direction)

Velocity of the baseball relative to the train (v_baseball) = -15 m/s (negative, since it's in the opposite direction of the train)

To find the velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth, we can add the velocities of the train and the baseball:

Velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth (v_baseball_Earth) = v_train + v_baseball

v_baseball_Earth = 15 m/s + (-15 m/s)

v_baseball_Earth = 0 m/s

The velocity of the baseball relative to the Earth as it leaves the thrower's hand is 0 m/s. This means that the baseball has no net velocity relative to the Earth and remains stationary with respect to the Earth's frame of reference, despite being thrown by the passenger in the moving train.