Question

Alice and tom dive from an overhang into the lake below. tom simply drops straight down from the edge, but alice takes a running start and jumps with an initial horizontal velocity of 25 m/s. neither person experiences any significant air resistance. compare the time it takes each of them to reach the lake below. alice and tom dive from an overhang into the lake below. tom simply drops straight down from the edge, but alice takes a running start and jumps with an initial horizontal velocity of 25 m/s. neither person experiences any significant air resistance. compare the time it takes each of them to reach the lake below. tom reaches the surface of the lake first. alice reaches the surface of the lake first. alice and tom will reach the surface of the lake at the same time.

Answer 1

Alice and Tom will reach the surface of the lake at the same time. In this problem. Both Alice and Tom have 2 components to their velocities. A horizontal component and an increasing vertical component due to gravity. They start out with different horizontal components, but that component does not in any way contribute to their vertical velocities. Since they both started out at the same height and the same vertical velocities, they will reach the surface of the lake at the same time.