Two children are throwing a ball back-and-forth straight across the back seat of a car. The ball is being thrown 12 mph relative to the car, and the car is travelling 25 mph down the road.

If one child doesn't catch the ball and it flies out the window, in what direction does the ball fly (ignoring wind resistance)?
____________________In degrees, measured relative to the car's forward direction

Question

Two children are throwing a ball back-and-forth straight across the back seat of a car. The ball is being thrown 12 mph relative to the car, and the car is travelling 25 mph down the road.

If one child doesn't catch the ball and it flies out the window, in what direction does the ball fly (ignoring wind resistance)?
____________________In degrees, measured relative to the car's forward direction

agent0smith · Answer

it will fly out of the car travelling 12 mph horizontally like so, while still moving forwards at 25mph as the car was|dw:1385429743643:dw|

agent0smith · Answer

|dw:1385429814224:dw|use tangent. Tan(theta) = opposite/adjacent