1. A penny is dropped from the 82nd Floor Observatory of the Empire State Building. The penny will fall from a height of 320 meter (1,050 feet).

Question

(a) How long will it take to fall?
(b) How fast is it going when it hits the ground?
2. Aim the Mythbuster’s penny gun straight up. The penny is launched at a speed of 64 mph.
(a) How high does the penny go?
(b) How long does the penny stay in the air?
3. The largest drop ride in North America is the Drop Zone, Paramount’s Kings Dominion in Virginia. It is 305 feet tall. Passengers free-fall fro 272 feet (82.9 feet).
(a) How much free-fall time do passengers experience?
(b) How fast are passengers going before braking begins?
4. Joe Kittenger, first man to reach the speed of sound without an aircraft. The speed of sound is 340 m/s.
(a) How long did it take to reach this speed?
(b) How far did he fall?
5. Aroldis Champman, 105 mph fastball. If he threw the ball straight up into the air,
(a) how high would it go?
(b) when would it come back down to him?
6. Kadour Ziani (5’10”) holds the world record for the highest vertical leap, 60 inches. FYI: Michael Jordan’s best vertical leap was 48 inches.
(a) Calculate Kadour’s takeoff speed.
(b) How long does he stay in the air?
7. The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifia in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 828 m (2,717 feet). How long would it take King Kong to fall from the top of this one?
8. In a scientific test conducted in Arizona, a special cannon called HARP shot a projectile straight up to an altitude of 1.8x105 m. What was the projectile's initial speed?
9. Cliff divers jump from heights up to 30 meters (95 feet). How fast are they going when they hit the water?
10. If the Moon were to stop orbiting the Earth it would fall towards it. The Moon is 384,504 m from the Earth
(a) How long would it take to hit the Earth?
(b) How fast would it be going?

Answer 1

1. The Bugatti Veyron can go from zero to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds.
(a) How many meters does it travel during the 2.5-s period?
(b) What is the Bugatti¡¦s rate of acceleration?
2. A bullet traveling 220 m/s strikes a tree and penetrates 4.33 cm before stopping.
(a) Find the average acceleration of the bullet.
(b) Find the time it takes to stop.
3. Rocket-powered sleds are used to test the responses of humans to acceleration. Starting from rest, these sleds can reach a speed of 444 m/s in 1.8 seconds.
(a) Calculate the acceleration of these sleds.
(b) How far do these sleds travel during the 1.8-s of acceleration?
4. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle was 149.6 miles per hour. If this bicycle could slow down at a rate of -3 m/s2,
(a) how long would it take to stop?
(b) how many meters would it need to stop?
BONUS
A driver of car going 55 mph suddenly sees a deer 40 m in the road ahead. It takes him 0.75 s to apply the brakes. He slams on the brakes and starts to slow down at -10 m/s2.
„h How far does he travel before deceleration?
„h How long will it take him to stop?
„h During deceleration, how far does the car go?
„h Does the car hit the deer?