Question

A cannon, positioned on a hill, shoots a cannonball horizontally at 23 m/s. The cannonball hits the stone wall 1.96 m below the height it was shot. How far away is the cannon from the wall?

Answer 1

Answer: 14. 49 m

Explanation:

We can solve this problem with the following equations:

$x=V_{o} cos \theta t$ (1)

$y-y_{o}=V_{o} sin \theta t-\frac{1}{2}gt^{2}$ (2)

Where:

$x$ is the horizontal distance between the cannon and the ball

$V_{o}=23 m/s$ is the cannonball initial velocity

$\theta=0\°$ since the cannonball was shoot horizontally

$t$ is the time

$y=0$ is the final height of the cannonball

$y_{o}=1.96 m$ is the initial height of the cannonball

$g=9.8 m/s^{2}$ is the acceleration due gravity

Isolating $t$ from (2):

$t=\sqrt{-\frac{2(y-y_{o})}{g}}$ (3)

$t=\sqrt{-\frac{2(0 m-1.96 m)}{9.8 m/s^{2}}}$ (4)

$t=0.63 s$ (5)

Substituting (5) in (1):

$x=(23 m/s) cos(0\°) 0.63 s$ (6)

Finally:

$x=14.49 m$