While serving on a committee investigating the high incidence of ankle injuries

Question

While serving on a committee investigating the high incidence of ankle injuries on the local junior high school’s basketball team, you watchthe team practice, looking for activities which can result in large horizontal forces on the ankle. Observing the studentspractice jump shots gives you an idea, so you try a small calculation. A 40 kg student jumps 1.0 meters straight up and shoots the 0.80-kg basketball at his highest point. From the trajectory of the basketball, you deduce that the ball left his hand at 30°abovethe horizontal at 20 m/s. What is the student’shorizontal velocity when he lands back on the ground?

Explanation / Answer

Using conservation of momentum

horizontal speed of the ball = 20*cos30
vx = 17.32 m/s
M*V = m*vx

40*V = 0.8*17.32
V = 0.34 m/s

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