Question

As a science project, you drop a watermelon off the top of the Empire State Building, 320 m above the sidewalk. It so happens that Superman flies by at the instant you release the watermelon. Superman is headed straight down with a speed of 36.0 m/s. How fast is the watermelon going when it passes Superman?

Answer 1

Well, they have traveled the same distance in the same time.

It is rather simple. The only way the same distance in the same time can happen if they have the same average velocity. The average velocity of the superman is 36, the watermellon started at zero, so it is at 72m/s at the finish (to give it an average velocity at 36)

I am most certain there are much more complicated ways of solving this.

Answer 2

As a science project, you drop a watermelon off the top of the Empire State Building, 320 m above the sidewalk. It so happens that Superman flies by at the instant you release the watermelon. Superman is headed straight down with a speed of 37.0m/s .