# Problem: A golfer tees off from the top of a rise, giving the golf ball an initial velocity of 43.0 m/s at an angle of 30.0° above the horizontal. The ball strikes the fairway a horizontal distance of 180 m from the tee. Assume the fairway is level. (a) How high is the rise above the fairway? (b) What is the speed of the ball as it strikes the fairway?

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###### FREE Expert Solution

For this problem, we're looking for the launch height and final speed of the golf ball given the magnitude and direction of the initial velocity and the horizontal distance it has to travel.

For projectile motion problems in general, we'll follow these steps to solve:

1. Identify the target variable and known variables for each direction—remember that only 3 of the 5 variablesx or Δy, v0, vf, a, and t) are needed for each direction. Also, it always helps to sketch out the problem and label all your known information!
2. Choose a UAM equation—sometimes you'll be able to go directly for the target variable, sometimes another step will be needed in between.
3. Solve the equation for the target (or intermediate) variable, then substitute known values and calculate the answer.

The four UAM (kinematics) equations are:

In our coordinate system, the +y-axis is pointing upwards and the +x-direction is horizontal along the launch direction. That means ay = −g, and ax = 0 (because the only acceleration acting on a projectile once it's launched is gravity.)

For projectiles with a positive launch angle, we also need to know how to decompose a velocity vector into its x- and y-components:

And the equations to find the magnitude and direction of a velocity from the components:

$\overline{)\mathbf{|}\stackrel{\mathbf{⇀}}{\mathbit{v}}\mathbf{|}{\mathbf{=}}\sqrt{{{\mathbit{v}}_{\mathbit{x}}}^{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{+}{{\mathbit{v}}_{\mathbit{y}}}^{\mathbf{2}}}}$

###### Problem Details

A golfer tees off from the top of a rise, giving the golf ball an initial velocity of 43.0 m/s at an angle of 30.0° above the horizontal. The ball strikes the fairway a horizontal distance of 180 m from the tee. Assume the fairway is level. (a) How high is the rise above the fairway? (b) What is the speed of the ball as it strikes the fairway?