Question

“A ball is thrown from the edge of a high cliff. Regardless of the angle at which it is thrown, due to air resistance, the ball will eventually end up moving vertically downward.” Justify this statement.”

Short answer

The statement “A ball is thrown from the edge of a high cliff. Regardless of the angle at which it is thrown, due to air resistance, the ball will eventually end up moving vertically downward” is justified because only dominating force on the ball is falling with gravity force.

Step-by-step solution

Gravitational and drag force:

The force exerted on a body that is on or above the earth's surface by its gravitational field is known as gravitational force.

When an object travels through a fluid, such as air or water, it provides resistance in the form of what is known as drag force or drag.

Forces on the ball during movement:

Two forces will act on the ball during falling from a cliff. One is the gravity force and the other is the drag force. The drag force on the ball is acting opposite to the movement of the ball. The vertical component of the velocity of the ball increases up to increasing initially but becomes constant at a certain point when the gravity force of the ball becomes equal to the drag force. The velocity of the ball at this point is called terminal velocity.

Horizontal distance of baseball in descending from a maximum height:

The ball falls with terminal velocity due to the gravity force in the downward direction without any acceleration, so the ball will eventually end up moving downward.