1) A rock is thrown straight up with an initial velocity of 24.5 m/s.

What maximum height will the rock reach before starting to fall downward? Solution: Begin by considering that the speed when the rock reaches its peak will be zero. Since the rock is thrown straight up, we dont need to consider any angles or velocity components. Therefore, this will be a very straight forward problem. Use the kinematics equation
2 2 vf = v0 + 2 a x

Here, vf = 0 and the acceleration is g and it is in the opposite direction of the displacement, so we have
2 0 = v0 2g x

x=

2 (24.5)2 v0 = 2g (2)(9.8)

x = 30.6 m 2) At the top of a cliff 100 m high, Raoul throws a rock upward with velocity 15.0 m/s. How long would he have to wait so he could drop a second rock from rest so both rocks arrive simultaneously at the bottom of the cliff? Solution: This is a tricky problem. The idea here is to calculate how long it will take the rst rock to hit the ground, how long it will take the second rock to hit the ground, and the difference between these two times. Begin with the rst rock. We know that at the peak, the speed is momentarily zero, as we saw from the rst problem. Then we can use the kinematics equation vf = v0 + at and note that vf = 0 and the acceleration is g in the opposite direction as the velocity. Then the time it takes to reach the top is v0 15 = = 1.53 s t= g 9.8 Then the total time it takes the rst rock to come back to the starting point is twice this time treturn = 2t = 3.06 s Now comes the tricky part. The speed when the rock is back at the starting point is the same as the initial speed except in the opposite direction. We need to calculate the time it takes the rock to hit the ground. Use the kinematics equation 1 x = v0 t + at2 2 1 2 gt + v0 t x = 0 2 In this case, x is the height of the cliff and the acceleration is g . To solve for the time, we need to use
v0
2 +4( 1 )gx v0 2 2( 1 2 )g

the quadratic formula t =

t=

15

(152 ) + 2(9.8)(100) (9.8)

Taking the positive solution, we get t = 3.24 s. This gives the total time that the rst rocks takes to hit the ground as t1 total = 3.24 + 3.06 = 6.30 s 1

Now, calculating the time it takes the second rock to hit the ground is much easier. Use the same kinematics equation, but now since the rock starts from rest, v0 = 0. So we have t2 = 2x = g 2(100) = 4.52 s (9.8)

Finally, to nd out how long the guy needs to wait before he drops the second rock, just take the difference in the two times t1 total t2 = 1.78 s