Physics for Scientists and Engineers 3E by R. Knight, C1E&P15


A roof tile falls straight down from a two-story building. It lands in a swimming pool and settles gently to the bottom. Draw a complete motion diagram of the tile.


Solution:

Model

Represent the tile as a particle.

Answer to Problem 1.15 Physics for Scientists and Engineers Third Edition by Randall Knight

Visualize

Starting from rest, the tile’s velocity increases until it hits the water surface. This part of the motion is represented by dots with increasing separation, indicating increasing average velocity. After the tile enters the water, it settles to the bottom at roughly constant speed, so this part of the motion is represented by equally spaced dots.