Determining the minimum velocity when given height and length

[arhzz]

Homework Statement

A stunt driver wants to jump with his car over several cars parked next to each other (a = 12m). He starts from a horizontal plane which is b = 1,9m above the cars.At what minimum speed does he have to jump off, to make the jump

Relevant Equations

t = √2h/g

Now I've tried looking at the problem like this. Considering that a is the length off the vehicles that he is trying to jump over I would consider that to be s. The plane from which he starts (b) should be the h.

So considering that he is jumping from a horizontal plane, gravity should also play a factor so we put in the g constant.After doing this what I though would be a good idea is to figure out when he would land, meaning how long would he fly.For that I used this formula

t = √2h/g

That should be t = 0,62s

Now what I did was try to find the velocity using this formula

v = s/t

I've gotten the result of 19,35 m/s.

Now the part that is bugging me is am I looking at the problem the correct way? I've given it some tought and I'm not so sure that the velocity I am getting is the right one, should I be looking for Vo? Also the fact that horizontal plane is explicity said also brings a few questions. We haven't really covered that in our class but it is in the script. Should I be looking the problem that way?

Thank you for your help.

 

[haruspex]

Your method and result are fine. The horizontal component of velocity does not change.

 

[arhzz]

Your method and result are fine. The horizontal component of velocity does not change.

Thank you for your answer!