Question

A snowball is thrown out the window of a car moving at 20 m/s. The ball is thrown vertically to hit a snowman 20 meters away at window level. What speed would the snowball need to be thrown to hit the snowman?

Answer 1

The snowball should be thrown with a horizontal velocity equal to the car's speed, 20 m/s, to hit the snowman 20 meters away at window level, as there's no vertical displacement involved.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the speed that the snowball needs to be thrown to hit the snowman located 20 meters away, we need to consider the horizontal motion separately from the vertical. Since the car is moving horizontally at 20 m/s and the snowball needs to travel 20 meters, we can use the formula distance = speed × time to calculate the time it takes for the snowball to reach the snowman.

Since the snowball is thrown at window level and needs to hit the snowman at the same level, we assume no vertical displacement, and thus no vertical velocity component is necessary. The only speed we are concerned with here is the horizontal speed because gravity will not affect the vertical position during the horizontal travel. Therefore, the snowball should be thrown with the same horizontal velocity as the car's speed to ensure it hits the snowman.

The speed the snowball needs to be thrown is 20 m/s horizontally, which is the speed of the car. There is no need for an additional vertical component because there is no vertical displacement to compensate for.