Chapter 8. Equations of Motion (Part 2): Up, up, and... back down

image with no caption

What goes up must come down. You already know how to deal with things that are falling down, which is great. But what about the other half of the bargain - when something’s launched up into the air? In this chapter, you’ll add a third key equation of motion to your armory which will enable you to deal with (just about) anything! You’ll also learn how looking for a little symmetry can turn impossible tasks into manageable ones.

Previously ...

image with no caption

Now ACME has an amazing new cage launcher

But you can’t keep the Dingo down for long - especially when ACME has an amazing new cage launcher! Once installed, it’ll propel a standard ACME cage straight up in the air at a speed of your choice.

It’s ideal for a more subtle approach - you can launch the cage from ground level, instead of having a big crane that the Emu will spot.

You just need to work out what velocity to launch it at so that it lands back on the target when the Emu arrives, exactly 2.0 s after you launched it.

image with no caption
image with no caption

Joe: Hmm, could we try using the equation we worked out in Chapter 7 ...

Get Head First Physics now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.