Question

In 1939 or 1940, Emanuel Zacchini took his human-cannonball act to an extreme. After being shot from a cannon, he soared over three Ferris wheels and into a net. Assume that he is launched with a speed of 26.5 m/s and at an angle of 53.0° and neglect air drag.
a) Treating him as a particle, calculate his clearance over the first wheel.
b) If he reach maximum height over the middle wheel, by how much did he clear it?
c) How far from the cannon should the net's center have been positioned?

Answer 1

 We first determine the vertex by using the formula,-b/2a = vertex, in order to get the values for the t-coordinate. That is why we got 

v_y=26.5 sin(53)=21.163v_x=26.5 cos(53)=15.948 
then

let x=0since you are going to land on a 3m tally=-.5(9.8)t^2+ 21.163*t
y=0=-4.9t+21.163t=4.31
vx*4.31= total distance travelled=68.88m
Then for the first wheel, you have 15.948m=vxdetermine the time when he reaches 23 meters, that is

23/15.948=1.44218 sec

substitute t with1.44218 sec, then determine the height.
h(1.44218)=20.329

determine vertex by using a graphing calculatort=2.1594s h=22.85m
using the time value of the vertex, determine horizontal distance travelled
34.438m away from cannon