Tennis Lob question Very confusing

  • Thread starter Thread starter carrbaseball
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Confusing Tennis
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
5 replies · 7K views
carrbaseball
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Here is the problem...The lob in tennis is an effective tactic when your opponent is near the net. It consists of lofting the ball over his head, forcing him to move quickly away from the net (see the drawing). Suppose that you loft the ball with an initial speed of v = 16.5 m/s, at an angle of = 55.0° above the horizontal. At this instant your opponent is 10.0 m away from the ball. He begins moving away from you 0.30 s later, hoping to reach the ball and hit it back at the moment that it is 2.10 m above its launch point. With what minimum average speed must he move? (Ignore the fact that he can stretch, so that his racket can reach the ball before he does.)
m/s
a lot of information...where to start?? I know it is a multiple step problem, but how to go about starting it has me puzzled.
Any help giving me a direction on how to tackle this would be appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Write the 2-D equations of motion for the ball, and the 1-D equation of motion for the tennis player.
 
I have tried what you suggested, but I am unsure as to what exactly imsolving for in each equation?? I need help with my given variables and my unknowns
 
I came up with :
x0=0
x=?
v0x=16.5cos55
vx=
ax=0
t=?

y0=0
y=2.1
v0y=16.5sin55
vy=
ay=-9.8
t=?
I solved for time and then i solved for x...i came up with 13.5/2.2
which gives me an answer of 6.1 m/s...which is wrong
i subtacted the .3 and the 10 m before i divided them too...it comes out with the wrong answer...??
 
check ur calculations when i tried doing it i got 6.34m/s not 6.1m/s