Question

A flowerpot falls off a windowsill and falls past the window below. You may ignore air resistance. It takes the pot 0.400 s to pass from the top to the bottom of this window, which is 2.00 m high. How far is the top of the window below the windowsill from which the flowerpot fell? Express your answer with the appropriate units.

Answer 1

Using the kinematic equation to find the speed of the flowerpot when it reaches the window top is

$y_2 -y_1 = v_1\cdot t + \frac{1}{2} g t^2$

$2 = v_1(0.4) + \frac{1}{2} (9.8) (0.4)^2$

This is the final velocity of the reach the top of the window from the sill. The time taken for a free fall to reach this speed from the sill is

Now applying the kinematic equation to find the distance of travel from the top of the window to the windowsill is

$\Delta y = 0\cdot t + \frac{1}{2} gt^2$

$\Delta y = \frac{1}{2} (9.8)(0.31)^2$

$\Delta y = 0.472m$