SOLUTION: Please help me, The Italian scientist Galileo dropped two balls of different mass from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and found they reached the ground at the same time. If the ball

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Question 136849: Please help me,
The Italian scientist Galileo dropped two balls of different mass from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and found they reached the ground at the same time. If the balls were dropped from a height to 60 feet, how many seconds did it take the balls to hit the ground?
Please help me understand quadractic eqaution word problems and how to do this.!!
thanks,
desperate algebra student..
Answer by vleith(2983) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Desperate, in order to do this problem, you need the formula for distance of a dropped object.
I'll assume your math or physics book has that in it. The general equation is
d+=+-%28a%2F2%29t%5E2+%2B+v%5B0%5Dt+%2B+d%5B0%5D where a is gravity, v{0] is initial velocity and d[0] is initial distance.
In your case, the ball is 'just dropped'. So there is no initial velocity --> v[0] = 0.
d[0] is given at 60 feet (funny when you think that Galileo was a metric kind of guy).
So we have d+=+-%28a%2F2%29t%5E2+%2B+60+
What you need to 'know' is that gravity measures 32ft/sec^2.
d+=+-16t%5E2+%2B+60+
What is d when the objects hit the ground? d = 0
0+=+-16t%5E2+%2B+60
-60+=+-16t%5E2
15%2F4+=+t%5E2
You do the rest :-D