Question

You are watching an archery tournament when you start wondering how fast an arrow is shot from the bow. Remembering your physics, you ask one of the archers to shoot an arrow parallel to the ground. You find the arrow stuck in the ground 63.0 mm away, making a 2.8 ∘∘ angle with the ground. Ignore all possible aerodynamic effects on the motion of the arrow. Use 9.80 m/s22 for the acceleration due to gravity.

Answer 1

Answer:

$v_0 = 3.53~{\rm m/s}$

Explanation:

This is a projectile motion problem. We will first separate the motion into x- and y-components, apply the equations of kinematics separately, then we will combine them to find the initial velocity.

The initial velocity is in the x-direction, and there is no acceleration in the x-direction.

On the other hand, there no initial velocity in the y-component, so the arrow is basically in free-fall.

Applying the equations of kinematics in the x-direction gives

$x - x_0 = v_{x_0} t + \frac{1}{2}a_x t^2\\63 \times 10^{-3} = v_0t + 0\\t = \frac{63\times 10^{-3}}{v_0}$

For the y-direction gives

$v_y = v_{y_0} + a_y t\\v_y = 0 -9.8t\\v_y = -9.8t$

Combining both equation yields the y_component of the final velocity

$v_y = -9.8(\frac{63\times 10^{-3}}{v_0}) = -\frac{0.61}{v_0}$

Since we know the angle between the x- and y-components of the final velocity, which is 180° - 2.8° = 177.2°, we can calculate the initial velocity.

$\tan(\theta) = \frac{v_y}{v_x}\\\tan(177.2^\circ) = -0.0489 = \frac{v_y}{v_0} = \frac{-0.61/v_0}{v_0} = -\frac{0.61}{v_0^2}\\v_0 = 3.53~{\rm m/s}$