Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 8 - Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy - Problems - Page 203: 12b

Answer

Speed doesnt change

Work Step by Step

The total energy of snowball respect to the ground initially will be: $E_{tot}=E_{k0}+E_{p0}=\dfrac {mv^{2}_{0}}{2}+mgh(1)$ Total energy of snowball is conserved so when it hits the ground lets write total energy of snowball respect to ground again : $ E_{tot}=E_{kB}+E_{pB}=\dfrac {mv^{2}_{B}}{2}+0\left( 2\right) $ so from (1) and (2) we get: $v_{B}=\sqrt {v^{2}_{0}+2gh}\left( 3\right) $ So when we look at equation (3) we see the speed doesnt depent on initial angle of snowball but rather depends on magnitute of initial speed and the height of building So if we throw snowball at an angle $α=-41^{0}$ instead of $α=+41^{0}$ the speed of snowball when it reaches the ground will not change.
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