- An object is thrown horizontally with an initial speed of 10 m/s.
How far will it drop in 4 seconds?
Here’s How to Crack It
The first step is to decide whether this is a horizontal question or a vertical
question, since you must consider these motions separately. The question “How far
will it drop?” is a vertical question, so we’ll use the set of equations listed above
under vertical-motion equations, the one that gives vertical displacement, ∆y.
Free Fall vs.
Horizontal Projection
The time it takes an
object dropped from rest
to fall a certain distance
is the same as if it were
projected horizontally with
any speed.Since the object is thrown horizontally, there is no vertical component to its initial
velocity vector v 0 ; that is, v 0 y = 0. So