How High Can Basketball Players Jump?

[Intr3pid]

the best rebounders in basketball have a vertical leap (that is, the vertical movement of a fixed point on their body) of 120cm.

a) what is their initial "launch" speed off the ground?

b) how long are they in the air?

i don't want you guys to give me an answer. Can you guys point me in the right direction on how to solve these questions?

 

[Kazza_765]

Think about your equations of motion. What I do is write down the variables that I know, and the variable that I want to know, then find the equation that has all of those in it.
So for this case you know that.
x = 1.2m (displacement)
a = -9.8m/s^2 (accelleration due to gravity)
v = 0 (final velocity, this occurs when they are at maximum height)
u = ? (initial velocity, what you need to find)
So you need to find the equation that uses x, a, v, and u and solve it.