# What is the speed of the pitch?

1. Feb 8, 2012

### SirajK

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
A baseball player friend of yours wants to determine his pitching speed. You have him stand on a ledge and throw horizontally from an elevation 4.0 m above the ground. The ball lands 25 m away. What is his pitching speed?

2. Relevant equations
Kinematics Equations:

2. Feb 8, 2012

3. Feb 9, 2012

4. Feb 9, 2012

### Spinnor

I'm never sure, 8^)

What do you think it should be?

5. Feb 9, 2012

### HallsofIvy

Your "kinematic equations" refer to the vertical motion only. You say the ball is thrown horizontally so the initial vertical component is 0. The height of the ball, at time t, is $y= (1/2)(9.81)t^2+ 4$. Set that equal to 0 (the ball hits the ground) and solve for t to find when the ball hits the ground.

Taking "v" as the horizontal component of velocity, the distance the ball traveled, in time t, is given by x= vt. Put x= 25, t equal to the time you solved for above, and solve for v.

That, of course, is ignoring air resistance- which is fairly large for a baseball.

6. Feb 9, 2012

### sjb-2812

Maybe it's the way the question is worded, but the figure of 25 to me seems to be the hypotenuse, rather than the adjacent for the triangle?