Question

A baseball pitcher throws a ball horizontally at a speed of 30.2 m/s. A catcher is 19.0 m away from the pitcher. Find the magnitude, in meters, of the vertical distance that the ball drops as it moves from the pitcher to the catcher. Ignore air resistance.

Answer 1

To determine the vertical distance, we need to know the time the ball is in the air. Use the ball’s horizontal velocity and the distance in the following equation.

d = v * t
19 = 30.2 * t
t = 19 ÷ 30.2

This is approximately 0.629 seconds. Use this time in the following equation to determine the vertical distance that the ball drops.

d = v_i*t +0.5* a * t²
v_i is the ball’s initial vertical velocity. This is 0 m/s. a = 9.8 m/s^2

d = 0.5*9.8*(19/30.2)²

d= 1.939 meter.