Question

An osprey drops a fish from an unknown height above the water. The osprey was flying at 12 m/s at an angle of 30 degrees below the horizontal at the moment the fish dropped from its grasp as shown in Figure 5. 2.5 seconds later the fish hits the water. The choice of a coordinate system is arbitrary, but for this problem use the coordinate system shown with the y axis going vertically upward and the x axis with the horizontal. The following three questions refer to this problem. Ignore air resistance. 1) What height above the water was the fish dropped from? 2)What is the speed of the fish as it hits the water? 3)What angle does the velocity of the fish make with respect to the horizontal as it hits the water?

Answer 1

The velocity of the fish is given as:

The velocity along the x direction remains unchanged, as the fish experiences no acceleration in that direction.The fish is accelerated by gravity in y direction.

Also,   

It the origin is taken at the point where the fish is released by osprey, then the vertical distance at which it impacts the water is -45.65625 m below the origin.

1. The fish was dropped at a height of 45.6525 m above the water.

The velocity of the fish as it hits the water is

2. The speed of the fish as it hits the water is 32.2456 m/s.

3. The velocity of the fish makes an angle of 71.2 degrees below the horizontal as it hits the water.