Question

A youngster throws a rock from a bridge into the river 50 m below. The rock has a speed of 15 m/s when it leaves the youngster’s hand. Calculate the velocity of the rock when it strikes the water if it is thrown upward.
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Answer 1

Assuming that the stone is thrown vertically... let's say it's a 1 kg stone.It doesn't matter if it's thrown upwards or downwards as (assuming no air friction) it will pass the original throwing point with the same downwards velocity as it had upwards, 3 seconds previously. So it starts with 1/2 m v^2 = 0.5 * 1 * 15^2 = 112.5 J of keThen k.e. gained = gpe lostk.e. gained = m g h = 1 * 10 * 50 = 500 J of Ke gainedso the final (total) ke is 612.5 J which = 1/2 m v^2 = 0.5 v^2 here
so 0.5 v^2 = 612.5so     v^2    = 1225so v = 35 m/s