In honor of the upcoming Super Bowl, here is a problem for us to discuss and then for you to take back into your classroom:
A player must kick the ball 46 yds. to win the game. A 6-ft. defensive back with an 18-in. vertical reach is 9 yds. from the kicker; he hopes to jump and knock the ball down. If the kick is made at a 45-degree angle to get the maximum height, can the defensive back knock it down?
Let's here that discussion...hut, hut, Omaha, hut, hut, Hawks!
Brooke
Comments
No one wanted to "tackle" this problem....but here is the solution:
The defensive back will not knock it down as he would need to be able to reach at least 9 yards high to block the kick when the kicker kicks it from 9 yards away at a 45 degree angle.
This is because the 45 degree angle means that the vertical distance and the horizontal distance must be equal, if you are triangulating the football.
I hope everyone had a great Super Bowl!
Brooke
Brooke,
I love these problems and the football question is one that I thought a lot of instructors would use with their students? At the end of the lesson using this problem, what will the students say, "I know and can do?"
Student says, "I can...
Meryl Becker-Prezocki
The suggested solution is not a solution at all -- there can't be one. Just because someone kicks a ball initially 45 degrees upward doesn't mean that its height is going to be the same as its horizontal distance traveled at any given time t later, just consider the time t when the ball hits the ground (height 0!). How far it goes and how high it goes depends on its initial velocity. A little kid might kick the ball at that initial angle and it wouldn't go very far or high..
Hi Brooke,
Have you moved from the Problem of the Week to a monthly problem now? I did enjoy the weekly problem.
Meryl Becker-Prezocki