Velocity with mass and distance given ?

1. Feb 1, 2008

iceman99

An object is lanuched at angle of 45 degrees. If I only have mass and distance travled given, how can I find the velocity of the object?

2. Feb 1, 2008

dst

Funnily enough you don't even need the mass of the object, assuming only gravity is acting.

A bit of manipulation with the basic laws of motion will give you the formula S = V^2/g where g is gravitational acceleration and S is the distance travelled from the original launch point. That only works for 45 degrees.

Draw the diagram for a projectile launched at 45 degrees and work your way from there. You need to find the maximum point (i.e. when it reaches peak height) for vertical displacement from the ground and then plug that in for horizontal displacement from the origin.

Last edited: Feb 1, 2008
3. Feb 1, 2008

Sourabh N

@iceman99 : Show your effort for solving the problem first.

Last edited: Feb 1, 2008
4. Feb 1, 2008

iceman99

Sorry Sourabh, I will next time I didnt even try to solve the problem; i was just curious. Thank you dst.

5. Feb 1, 2008

iceman99

Some of my friends made a potato launcher(I didnt think it would work) and I was curius how they found the velocity with displacment and the weight.