Question

In a game of baseball, a player hits a high fly ball to the outfield. (a) Is there a point during the flight of the ball where its velocity is parallel to its acceleration? (b) Is there a point where the ball’s velocity is perpendicular to its acceleration? Explain in each case.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) No

b) No

Explanation:

When a bat is hit in a game of baseball such that it flies out of the field that means it is going with some angle to the horizontal.

a)

Then is such a case the velocity of the ball is never parallel to the acceleration because there acts a net acceleration which is resultant of the acceleration due to the applied force and the acceleration due to gravity but a component of the velocity when the ball descends the height acts parallel to the gravity.

b)

At no point during the motion of the ball its velocity is perpendicular to its acceleration because it has an initial angle of projection form the horizontal.