College Physics 2.51 – Time of the hiker to move out from a falling rock

Standing at the base of one of the cliffs of Mt. Arapiles in Victoria, Australia, a hiker hears a rock break loose from a height of 105 m. He can’t see the rock right away but then does, 1.50 s later. (a) How far above the hiker is the rock when he can see it? (b) How much time does he have to move before the rock hits his head?

Solution:

Part A

We know that the initial height, y0y_0 of the rock is 105 meters, and the initial velocity, v0v_0 is zero. We shall solve for the distance traveled by the rock for 1.5 seconds from the initial position first to find the height at detection.

The change in height is

Δy=v0t+12at2=(0)(1.50 s)+12(9.81 m/s2)(1.50 s)2=0+11.036 m=11.04 m\displaystyle \begin{aligned} \Delta \text{y}&=\text{v}_0\text{t}+\frac{1}{2}\text{at}^2 \\ &=\left( 0 \right)\left( 1.50 \ \text{s} \right)+\frac{1}{2}\left( 9.81\ \text{m/s}^{2} \right)\left( 1.50\ \text{s} \right)^{2}\\ &=0+11.036\ \text{m} \\ &=11.04 \ \text{m} \end{aligned}

So, the rock falls about 11.04 m from the initial height for 1.50 seconds. Therefore, the height of the rock above his head at this point is

y=y0−Δy=105 m−11.04 m=93.96 m\displaystyle \begin{aligned} \text{y}&=\text{y}_{0}-\Delta \text{y} \\ &=105\ \text{m}-11.04\ \text{m} \\ &=93.96 \ \text{m} \end{aligned}

Part B

We shall solve for the total time of travel, that is, from the initial position to his head. Then we shall subtract 1.50 s from that to solve for the unknown time of moving out. The total time of travel is

y=12at2Solving for t, we havet=2ya=2(105 m)9.81 m/s2=4.63 s\begin{aligned} \text{y} & =\frac{1}{2}\text{at}^{2} \\ &\text {Solving for t, we have}\\ \text{t}&=\sqrt{\frac{\text{2y}}{\text{a}}} \\ &=\sqrt{\frac{2\left( 105\ \text{m} \right)}{9.81 \ \text{m/s}^{2}}} \\ &=4.63 \ \text{s} \end{aligned}

Therefore, to move out the hiker has about

t=4.63 s−1.50 s=3.13 s\begin{aligned} \text{t}&=4.63 \ \text{s}-1.50\ \text{s}\\ &=3.13\ \text{s} \end{aligned}