tom the cat is chasing jerry the mouse across a table surface 1.5m off the floor. Jerry steps out of the way at the last second and tom slides off the edge of the table at a speed of 5.7m/s. where will tom strike the floor?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Hola.  What variable(s) do you need to solve this?

anonymous · Answer

Distance?
Velocity?
Time?
Density of a cat?
Purrrmitivity of freespace?

anonymous · Answer

Time. 

You have  velocity in the x direction, acceleration, and the height of the table.

You can find the time - how long Tom is in the air for - by seeing how long it takes him to hit the ground; aka, how long it takes him to travel 1.5m from rest while being accelerated 9.8 m/s^2 (gravity).  All you need is the first equation of motion;

$$ h = \cancel{v_{oy} t}^0  + \frac{1}{2} a t^2 
\ t = \sqrt{\frac{2h}{a}} $$

Then the velocity Tom travels in the x direction - how far away from the table he hits the ground, is 
$$ x = vt $$