During a baseball game a fly ball is hit to center field and is caught 121 m from home plate. Just when the ball is caught, a runner on third base takes off for home, and the center fielder throws the ball to the catcher standing on home plate. The runner takes 3.00 s to reach home, while the baseball is thrown with a velocity whose horizontal component is 43 m/s. Which reaches home first, the runner or the ball, and by how much time?

Question

anonymous · Answer

121/43 = 2.81 seconds so the ball gets there first

anonymous · Answer

wrong

anonymous · Answer

Assuming that the ball loses no forward velocity and that the runner and the centerfielder start at the same time, saladman is correct.