Solving Baseball's Speed - Find Initial Velocity & Time to Peak

  • Thread starter Thread starter WolfStar
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Baseball Speed
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the initial velocity and time to peak of a baseball hit in a specific scenario. The user correctly determined the initial velocity to be 39.67 m/s but encountered issues calculating the time to reach maximum height. The angle of launch was calculated using the inverse tangent of the height (3.1 m) over the distance (24 m), which may have led to inaccuracies in subsequent calculations. The user utilized the formula V(final) = V(initial) + A * t, but miscalculated the time to peak as 0.518 seconds, indicating a need for clarification on angle and velocity components.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of projectile motion principles
  • Familiarity with kinematic equations
  • Knowledge of trigonometric functions for angle calculations
  • Basic physics concepts regarding gravity and velocity components
NEXT STEPS
  • Review the derivation of projectile motion equations
  • Learn how to calculate horizontal and vertical components of velocity
  • Study the effects of gravity on projectile motion
  • Practice solving similar problems involving initial velocity and time to peak
USEFUL FOR

Students studying physics, educators teaching projectile motion, and anyone interested in solving real-world problems involving kinematics.

WolfStar
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hi all.

I have a problem that states -

It's the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the winning runs on base. You hit a knee-high fastball that just clears the leaping third baseman's glove. He is standing 24 m from you and his glove reaches to 3.1 m above the ground. The flight time to that point is 0.61 s. Assume the ball's initial height was 0.60 m. Find the initial speed of the ball.

Find the time at which the ball reaches its maximum height.

I found the initial velocity to be 39.67 m/s and this was correct (This homework is online so I can enter in answers and get results immediately.)

I then found the angle of the launch by taking the inverse tangent of the height, 3.1 m, divided by the length, 24 m. This should give me the angle of the launch, but I'm thinking this might be where I went wrong. I then took the sine of this angle and multiplied it by the initial velocity to get my velocity in the y direction.

Then I used the formula -

V(final) = V(inital) + A * t

and plugged in zero for the final velocity, since the ball's velocity in the y direction at the peak of the arc will be zero, the y velocity I calculated above for the V(initial), -9.81 m/s^2 for the acceleration due to gravity, and solved for the time. This came out to be 0.518 seconds, which was not the right answer.

I think the part I am messing up is the calculation of the angle, but I'm not sure...any help would be greatly appreciated. :smile:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
HINT: Try finding the horizontal component of your velocity. (v = ds/dt)
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 38 ·
2
Replies
38
Views
4K
Replies
11
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
3K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
16
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
Replies
3
Views
4K