bui_skillz said:
a stone is thrown so that it will hit a bird at hte top of a pole. However, at the instant the stone is thrown, the bird flies away in a horiztonal straight line at a speed of 10metres per second. The stone reaches a height double that of hte pole and, in its descent, touchs the bird. Find the horiztonal component of hte velocity of the stone.
oh this question...
there's a really elegant solution to this...
the stone goes up to 2H and then down to H, then hits the bird
let the time taken to fall a vertical distance of 2H be T - this is the same time taken to rise a vertical distance of 2H
also, let time taken to rise or fall H be U
vertically, y=gt
2/2, so 2H = gT
2/2 and H = gU
2/2
dividing those two gives 2H/H = 2 = T
2/U
2
so T = (sqrt2) U
draw a picture, and call the horizontal distance from the bird's start to the bird's end D
bird travels D in T+U secs at 10 m/s, so D = 10(T+U) = 10(sqrt2+1) U
stone travels D in U+U secs at v m/s, so D = 2vU
2vU = 10(sqrt2+1) U
v = 5(sqrt2+1)
= 12.07