Physics Question

[Siri]

Originally Posted by jpconnors9

I was thinking that you have to at least know the angle and the x position but a team member is looking for an equation that is just variables. I don't get how it would work -- does this just not make sense.
like xf = xo +vxo t +1/2 at^2 is an equation with all variables but it can't really tell us anything if we have just one variable

You're right, it doesn't make sense. It's not a matter of difficulty of derivation; what you're looking for is definitively indeterminate without more information*. An unfortunate fact of physics (and life).

You simply cannot determine a ball's kinematic behavior based solely on its initial speed (scalar magnitude without angle). As an extreme example, take two balls shot at 5 m/s. One is launched at 45deg above the horizontal. The other is launched straight down. Which has a larger x displacement?

*Cue someone telling me this is too sweeping a generalization. do'h