Answer: A ball tossed upward will return to the same point | StudySoup

Textbook Solutions for Conceptual Physics

Chapter 3 Problem 39E

Question

Problem 39E

A ball tossed upward will return to the same point with the same initial speed when air resistance is negligible. When air resistance is not negligible, how does the return speed compare with its initial speed?

Solution

Solution 39E

Introduction

In this problem we will use the concept conservation of energy to answer and the fact that due to air resistance the ball will lose some energy to whether the ball will have same velocity or not.

Solution

Step 1: Explanation.

When I am tossing some ball upwards, I am throwing the ball with some velocity. That means, initially I am giving some kinetic energy to the ball.

Now if there is no air resistance, as the ball goes up, the kinetic energy will be converted to potential energy and at the top of the flight, the all the kinetic energy will be converted to potential energy and the ball have only potential energy. And when, now when the ball is coming down, the potential energy will now, again, be converted to kinetic energy and at the starting point all the potential energy will be converted to kinetic energy again.

Since, since the gravity is a conservative force, the total energy of the ball will remain always conserved. And since the kinetic energy of the ball depends on the velocity and the mass of the ball, the velocity will be same.

Now when there is air resistance, which is not a conservative force, the ball will loose some energy during it’s flight due to friction. Now when the ball returns to the initial position, the ball will have only kinetic energy, but the ball has already lost some energy due to air resistance. So at this point the kinetic energy is less than the initial energy. Hence the velocity will be less than the initial velocity.

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full solution

Title Conceptual Physics 11 
Author Paul G. Hewitt
ISBN 9780321568090

Answer: A ball tossed upward will return to the same point

Chapter 3 textbook questions

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