Aphysics lab group rolls a ball off a horizontal table with a speed of 1.6 m/s. the table is 1.2 m high. how far in the horizontal direction does the ball travel before it hits the floor?

0.784 m

Explanation:

The motion of the ball is a projectile motion, which consists of two independent motions:

- a horizontal uniform motion, with constant speed of

- a vertical accelerated motion, with constant acceleration towards the ground and initial position

By looking at the vertical motion, we can find the time t at which the ball hits the ground, which is the time t at which the vertical position y becomes zero:

And now we can use the horizontal motion to find the total horizontal distance traveled during this time interval: