Physics

To find the speed of the ball just before it hits the ground, we can use the conservation of mechanical energy or the equation of motion for free fall.

 

Using Conservation of Mechanical Energy:

Initially, the ball has only gravitational potential energy, which gets converted to kinetic energy just before it hits the ground.

 

1. Initial Potential Energy (at height ):

where:

(mass of the ball),

(acceleration due to gravity),

(height the ball falls from).

 

Thus, the initial potential energy is:

 

2. Final Kinetic Energy (just before hitting the ground):

At the moment just before the ball hits the ground, all the potential energy has been converted to kinetic energy. The kinetic energy is:

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