Question 1093647
To answer your question, we have to use the formula to approximate the distance in feet s that the ball (or any other object) falls freely from rest in t seconds:
s = 16t^2
Now, you may wonder why 16, why not any other number. It's because the instantaneous acceleration, the acceleration of gravity, is 32 feet per second. The coefficient of the t^2 term is HALF the acceleration. When you get to calculus you'll learn how this works.
So here we go:
16t^2 = 196
t^2 = 196/16
t^2 = 12.25
t = sqrt(12.25)
t = 3.5 seconds