Question

You are trying to find out how high you have to pitch a water balloon in order for it to burst when it hits the ground. You discover that the balloon bursts when you have pitched it to a height of 15 m. With what velocity did the balloon hit the ground? The acceleration of gravity is 9.8 m/s2 . The positive direction is up, so the velocity when it hits is negative. Answer in units of m/s.

Answer 1

Answer:

17.15 m/s

Explanation:

This is a case of free fall, so we can use the next equation:

$v_{f}^2=v_{i}^2+2gh$

where

$v_{f}$ is the final velocity

$v_{i}$ is the initial velocity (0 in this case)

$g$ is the acceleration of gravity $9.8m/s^2$

and $h$ is the height at wich the ballon was pitched.

So we have:

$v_{f}=\sqrt{v_{i}^2+2gh} =\sqrt{0^2+2(9.8m/s^2)(15m)} =\sqrt{294m^2/s^2} =17.15m/s$

The final velocity, the velocity of the ballon when it hits the ground is 17.15m/s.