Suppose a comet were discovered approaching the sun, one whose orbit would cause it to collide with earth 20 months later, after perihelion passage. (this is approximately the situation described in the science-fiction novel lucifer’s hammer by larry niven and jerry pournelle.) what could we do? would there be any way to protect ourselves from a catastrophe?

Sorry i don’t know what to do

Since you have not included the experiment situation and the data, of course, i can not give you specific details about it. but i can you with this question.1) i will assume that the motion is projectile (parabolic) motion.2) yes, the horizontal distance depends on the horizontal velocity as, naming vx the horizontal velocity and t the time, it is: x = vx × t3) now, observe that the flight time depends on the vertical velocity as, naming voy the initial vertical velocity, t the time and y the vertical distance before reaching the ground: y = yo + voy×t - gt² / 2.the higher the initial vertical velocity (voy) the longer the object will be flying and so t will be higher in the equation for the horizontal distance.that explains the relationship between the horizontal distance and the horizontal velocity.