rasen58 Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Problem: A physics teacher is designing a ballistics event for a science competition. The ceiling is 3.00 m high, and the maximum velocity of the projectile will be 20.0 m/s. a) What is the maximum initial velocity in the vertical direction that the projectile could have? So I think that the max velocity of a projectile will always be when it is launched or right before it hits the ground, so wouldn't the answer be 20.0 m/s? If you point the cannon or whatever is launching the projectile vertically upwards with no tilt, there would be 0 horizontal velocity, so wouldn't all the velocity be in the vertical direction? But the answer is apparently 7.68 m/s, which I don't understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfmotat Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Essentially it's asking for the maximum angle the projectile can be launched from without it hitting the ceiling. But instead of the angle, they want the y-component of the initial velocity. (The two are related!) The initial speed of the projectile is 20 m/s, but what is its initial y-component of velocity? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasen58 Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Oh, I see now! I didn't realize that it couldn't hit the ceiling, so there must be an angle. I was able to calculate the answer now. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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