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An acrobat is launched from a cannon at an angle of 60o above the horizontal. The acrobat is caught by a safety net mounted horizontally at the height from which he was initially launched. Suppose the acrobat is launched at a speed of 26 m/s.

  1. How long does it take before he reaches his maximum height?
  2. How long does it take in total for him to reach a point halfway back down to the ground?
 Nov 16, 2016
 #1
avatar+118687 
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An acrobat is launched from a cannon at an angle of 60o above the horizontal. The acrobat is caught by a safety net mounted horizontally at the height from which he was initially launched. Suppose the acrobat is launched at a speed of 26 m/s.

How long does it take before he reaches his maximum height?

How long does it take in total for him to reach a point halfway back down to the ground?

 

\(\text{Vertical components}\\ \dot{y}(0)=26sin60=22.517m/s\\ \ddot{y}=-9.8\\ \dot{y}=-9.8t+22.517\\ y=-4.9t^2+22.517t\\ \text{When y=0}\\ -4.9t^2+22.517t=0\\ t(-4.9t+22.517)=0\\ t=0\;\;or\;\;t=\frac{22.514}{4.9}=4.595\;\;sec\\ \text{To get to the max height will be reached in half this time, approx 2.3 secs }\\ When\; t=2.3sec,\;\;y \approx 25.87m \)

 

Half way down the y value is  

0.5*25.87 = 12.935m

When y=12.935  find t

 

\(-4.9t^2+22.517t=12.935\\ 4.9t^2-22.517t+12.935=0\\ \)

4.9t^2-22.517t+12.935=0 = {t=-(((sqrt(253489289)-22517)/9800)), t=((sqrt(253489289)+22517)/9800)}

t=0.6730,   t=3.9222

 

It takes about 3.9 secs for the acrobat to be half way down :)

 

You should check all this as it is easy to make careless errors  wink

 Nov 17, 2016
 #2
avatar+72 
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Thanks so much, Melody!

 Nov 17, 2016

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