Question

A watermelon is dropped off of a 50 ft bridge, and it explodes upon impact with the ground. How fast was it traveling in mph upon impact?

Answer 1

Answer: 56.72 ft/s

Explanation:

Ok, initially we only have potential energy, that is equal to:

U =m*g*h

where g is the gravitational acceleration, m the mass and h the height.

h = 50ft and g = 32.17 ft/s^2

when the watermelon is near the ground, all the potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy, and the kinetic energy can be written as:

K = (1/2)*m*v^2

where v is the velocity.

Then we have:

K = U

m*g*h = (m/2)*v^2

we solve it for v.

v = √(2g*h) = √(2*32.17*50) ft/s = 56.72 ft/s