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PhizKid
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Homework Statement
A ball is rolled horizontally off the top of a staircase at 1.52 m/s. The dimensions of the steps are 20.3cm by 20.3cm in hight and width, respectively. Which step does the ball hit first?
Homework Equations
Vector kinematics equations
The Attempt at a Solution
At first I tried to make the stairs the slope of a line by using slope 20.3 anywhere on the Cartesian plane and then selected a start point where the projectile motion would begin.
I tried to find out an equation for the projectile motion because it's parabolic and then find an intersection point between the parabola and a point on the line, then I'd divide that number accordingly with 20.3 to find which "stair" it hits first.
Unfortunately I'm not sure how to transform a vector form into a quadratic equation. Is there any other way to do this?