Question

An astronaut on a strange planet finds that she can jump a maximum horizontal distance of 15m if her initial speed is 3m/s.What is the acceleration due to gravity on the planet?

Answer 1

Explanation:

As the astronaut jumps and reaches the highest point, he is momentarily at rest, i.e.

$v=0$

We also know

$u=3, s=15$

By the formula,

$v^2-u^2=2as$

where a is the acceleration of objectc due to gravity,

$0^2-3^2=2a(15)$

$-9=30a$

$a=-0.3 ms^{-2}$

where negative sign indicates a downwards acceleration.