Projectile: Do not understand wording

[Electron17]

Homework Statement

Participants in a road race take water from a refreshment station and throw their empty cups away further down the course. If a runner has a forward speed of 6.20 m/s, how far in advance of a garbage pail should he release his water cup if the horizontal distance between the lid of the garbage can and the runner\'s point of release is 0.50 m?

Homework Equations

Rx = Rcos(theta)
Ry = Rsin(thetha)
Kinematics equations

The Attempt at a Solution

I don\'t know what exactly this question is asking for. First of all, what does it mean by \"how far in advance\"? Normally, I would assume that this would mean the horizontal component of distance. However, this is certainly not the case as horizontal distance upon the point of release is given in the question. Unless if this cup is going to magically travel beside him in the x direction after release, it makes no sense whatsoever, especially considering he would merely drop the cup on the ground in reality, 0.50 m short of the garbage can.

By the way, the answer in the back is 2.0 m.

 

[fliinghier]

i'm not sure, but it sounds like the problem means the vertical distance is .5m

 

[ogb p]

I can understand your confusion with the wording of the problem. It seems that the question is asking for the horizontal distance between the point of release and the garbage pail, not the horizontal distance between the runner and the pail. This can be calculated using the kinematics equations, as you have mentioned in your attempt at a solution.

Assuming that the runner releases the cup at the same height as the garbage pail, we can use the horizontal velocity of the runner (6.20 m/s) and the horizontal distance between the point of release and the pail (0.50 m) to calculate the time it takes for the cup to reach the pail. From there, we can use the kinematics equations to find the horizontal distance the cup will travel in that time, which should be approximately 2.0 m, as given in the answer.

In the future, it may be helpful for the question to specify what is meant by "how far in advance" to avoid any confusion. It is important for scientific questions to have clear and precise wording to ensure accurate and meaningful results.