Chapter 6, Problem 10Q

To determine

The balloon with higher speed among three balloon, if they are tossed from the top of a building with different launch angles.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction

When balloons are initially dropped from the top of the building, they have both kinetic energy and potential energy. When balloons strike the ground, the potential energy becomes zero. Since the balloon’s kinetic energy depends upon its initial energy instead of launch angle.

Consider the expression for the kinetic energy.

  

Where,

• is the kinetic energy.
• is the mass of the balloon.
• is the velocity.

Since, the speed a scalar quantity. So, the balloon’s speed before hitting the ground is independent of the launch angle. Therefore, it depends upon the launch speed and height.

From the above, it is clear that the balloons will have the same speed if they are tossed from the same height with the same speed.

Conclusion:

Therefore, the balloons will have the same speed if they are tossed from the same height with the same speed.