To determine the acceleration of the baseball when it is thrown straight down and is experiencing a drag force, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that:
where
The forces acting on the baseball are the gravitational force (weight) and the drag force. The gravitational force can be calculated using:
where
- Calculate the gravitational force acting on the baseball:
- The drag force is acting upwards and is given as
. Therefore, we can express the net force as:
Substituting in the values we found:
- Now use Newton's second law to find the acceleration:
Thus, the acceleration of the baseball at that speed is approximately