PhysicsLAB: Test Scenario: Tossed Ball (Flipping Physics)

A teacher throws a 58-gram tennis ball straight up and later catches it after its bounces once on the floor at his feet. A video recorded the ball leaving his hand at 124 cm above the ground and striking the ground 1.14 seconds later.

Unfortunately, the video did not record how much time, after the bounce, was required for the ball to return to the teacher’s hand.

The exact moment that the ball passed through its apex was also not recorded.

However, the ball was approximately level with one of the divisions in the building’s cornice at 0.40 seconds on its way up and later at 0.45 seconds on its way down.

Graphs of the ball’s position and velocity with respect to time are presented below.

Refer to the following information for the next seven questions.

(a) Using the kinematics equations for uniformly accelerated motion, calculate the initial speed with which the ball was released at time t = 0 seconds.

(b) Using kinematics determine the exact time required for the ball to reach the apex of its trajectory, aka, the top of the cornice.

(d) Use energy methods to determine the impact velocity of the ball just as it initially makes contact with the ground.

(e) After completing its bounce, the apex of the ball’s rebound coincided exactly with the teacher’s hand which was waiting at the original release positon of 124 cm above the ground. In order for this to happen, at what velocity did the ball move upward after completing its bounce on the ground?

(f) What impulse did the ground deliver to the ball during the ball’s bounce?

(g) What was the average impact force delivered to the ball during its bounce if the bounce lasted for 0.0025 seconds?