A Simple Reaction-Time Test. A meter stick is held vertically above your hand, with the lower end between your thumb and first finger. When you see the meter stick released, you grab it with those two fingers. You can calculate your reaction time from the distance the meter stick falls, read directly from the point where your fingers grabbed it. (a) Derive a relationship for your reaction time in terms of this measured distance, d. (b) If the measured distance is 17.6 cm, what is your reaction time?

A juggler throws a bowling pin straight up with an initial speed of 8.20 m/s. How much time elapses until the bowling pin returns to the juggler’s hand?

You throw a glob of putty straight up toward the ceiling, which is 3.60 m above the point where the putty leaves your hand. The initial speed of the putty as it leaves your hand is 9.50 m/s. (a) What is the speed of the putty just before it strikes the ceiling? (b) How much time from when it leaves your hand does it take the putty to reach the ceiling?

A tennis ball on Mars, where the acceleration due to gravity is 0.379g and air resistance is negligible, is hit directly upward and returns to the same level 8.5 s later. (a) How high above its original point did the ball go? (b) How fast was it moving just after it was hit? (c) Sketch graphs of the ball’s vertical position, vertical velocity, and vertical acceleration as functions of time while it’s in the Martian air.

Estimate the maximum height in feet that you can throw a baseball straight up. (a) For this height, how long after the ball leaves your hand does it return to your hand? (b) Estimate the distance in feet that the ball moves while you are throwing it—that is, the distance from where the ball is when you start your throw until it leaves your hand. Calculate the average acceleration in \(\mathrm{m/s}^2\) that the ball has while it is being thrown, as it moves from rest to the point where it leaves your hand.

A rock is thrown straight up with an initial speed of 24.0 m/s. Neglect air resistance. (a) At t = 1.0 s, what are the directions of the velocity and acceleration of the rock? Is the speed of the rock increasing or decreasing? (b) At t = 3.0 s, what are the directions of the velocity and acceleration of the rock? Is the speed of the rock increasing or decreasing?

A brick is dropped (zero initial speed) from the roof of a building. The brick strikes the ground in 1.90 s. You may ignore air resistance, so the brick is in free fall. (a) How tall, in meters, is the building? (b) What is the magnitude of the brick’s velocity just before it reaches the ground? (c) Sketch \(a_{y} -t, v_{y} -t\), and y-t graphs for the motion of the brick.

A Simple Reaction-Time Test. A meter stick is held vertically above your hand, with the lower end between your thumb and first finger. When you see the meter stick released, you grab it with those two fingers. You can calculate your reaction time from the distance the meter stick falls, read directly from the point where your fingers grabbed it. (a) Derive a relationship for your reaction time in terms of this measured distance, d. (b) If the measured distance is 17.6 cm, what is your reaction time?

Touchdown on the Moon. A lunar lander is making its descent to Moon Base I (Fig. E2.40). The lander descends slowly under the retro-thrust of its descent engine. The engine is cut off when the lander is 5.0 m above the surface and has a downward speed of 0.8 m/s.With the engine off, the lander is in free fall. What is the speed of the lander just before it touches the surface? The acceleration due to gravity on the moon is \(1.6 \ \mathrm{m/s}^2\).

Launch Failure. A 7500 kg rocket blasts off vertically from the launch pad with a constant upward acceleration of \(2.25 \ \mathrm{m/s}^2\) and feels no appreciable air resistance. When it has reached a height of 525 m, its engines suddenly fail; the only force acting on it is now gravity. (a) What is the maximum height this rocket will reach above the launch pad? (b) How much time will elapse after engine failure before the rocket comes crashing down to the launch pad, and how fast will it be moving just before it crashes? (c) Sketch \(a_{y} -t, v_{y} -t\), and y-t graphs of the rocket’s motion from the instant of blast-off to the instant just before it strikes the launch pad.

A hot-air balloonist, rising vertically with a constant velocity of magnitude 5.00 m/s, releases a sandbag at an instant when the balloon is 40.0 m above the ground (Fig. E2.42). After the sandbag is released, it is in free fall. (a) Compute the position and velocity of the sandbag at 0.250 s and 1.00 s after its release. (b) How many seconds after its release does the bag strike the ground? (c) With what magnitude of velocity does it strike the ground? (d) What is the greatest height above the ground that the sandbag reaches? (e) Sketch \(a_{y} -t, v_{y} -t\), and y-t graphs for the motion.

You throw a rock straight up and find that it returns to your hand 3.60 s after it left your hand. Neglect air resistance. What was the maximum height above your hand that the rock reached?

An egg is thrown nearly vertically upward from a point near the cornice of a tall building. The egg just misses the cornice on the way down and passes a point 30.0 m below its starting point 5.00 s after it leaves the thrower’s hand. Ignore air resistance. (a) What is the initial speed of the egg? (b) How high does it rise above its starting point? (c) What is the magnitude of its velocity at the highest point? (d) What are the magnitude and direction of its acceleration at the highest point? (e) Sketch \(a_{y} -t, v_{y} -t\), and y-t graphs for the motion of the egg.

A 15 kg rock is dropped from rest on the earth and reaches the ground in 1.75 s. When it is dropped from the same height on Saturn’s satellite Enceladus, the rock reaches the ground in 18.6 s. What is the acceleration due to gravity on Enceladus?

A large boulder is ejected vertically upward from a volcano with an initial speed of 40.0 m/s. Ignore air resistance. (a) At what time after being ejected is the boulder moving at 20.0 m/s upward? (b) At what time is it moving at 20.0 m/s downward? (c) When is the displacement of the boulder from its initial position zero? (d) When is the velocity of the boulder zero? (e) What are the magnitude and direction of the acceleration while the boulder is (i) moving upward? (ii) Moving downward? (iii) At the highest point? (f) Sketch \(a_{y} -t, v_{y} -t\), and y-t graphs for the motion.

You throw a small rock straight up from the edge of a highway bridge that crosses a river. The rock passes you on its way down, 6.00 s after it was thrown. What is the speed of the rock just before it reaches the water 28.0 m below the point where the rock left your hand? Ignore air resistance.