# Ball rolls of an edge and lands on and inclined plane

1. Homework Statement
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7987/scanik8.jpg [Broken]
the ball rolls at a constant speed, fast enough to travel straight off the ledge and eventually lands on the inclined plane. The task is to derive an equation for d as a function of v (the initial horizontal speed of the ball) and theta.

2. The attempt at a solution
I started by trying to find y by using $$\Delta d_{y}= 1/2g \Delta t^2$$
then I moved on to x which is simply $$v \Delta t$$
I also know that $$\Theta = tan^{-1} (\frac{1/2 g \Delta t^2}{v \Delta t})$$
this is all great, but i wasn't quite sure how to get rid of the t

after some more fiddling i also found that $$\Delta t = \frac{d cos \Theta}{v}$$, but along that same train of thought, if $$d = \sqrt{x^2 + y^2}$$ and $$x = d cos \Theta$$ then that wouldn't work.

my teacher told me i wasn't on the right track so i started over, but i haven't gotten anywhere with that. some help to point me in the right direction would be great

Last edited by a moderator:

## Answers and Replies

Related Introductory Physics Homework Help News on Phys.org
Tom Mattson
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
I would tackle it using conservation of energy. Such an analysis would be completely time-independent from the get go.

we haven't learned about conservation of energy yet (well, not enough to be able to apply any mathematical solution to a problem). so that might be a challenge

Tom Mattson
Staff Emeritus