Understanding Projectile Motion: Exploring Horizontal and Vertical Motions

What happens when a tennis ball is launched horizontally and another identical ball is dropped from the same height?

Answer:

Both balls will hit the ground at the same time.

When a tennis ball is launched horizontally from a tennis ball launcher with a large force and an identical ball is dropped from the same height, both balls will hit the ground at the same time as long as air resistance is ignored. This phenomenon occurs due to the principles of projectile motion, where the motion of an object can be broken down into horizontal and vertical components.

The answer to the question is that neither ball will hit the ground first, as they would hit at the same time. This is because the vertical motion of a falling object (the ball dropped from the same height) is solely influenced by gravity and not affected by any horizontal forces. Meanwhile, the horizontal velocity of the ball launched horizontally remains constant and is unaffected by gravity.

Therefore, both balls will reach the ground simultaneously, demonstrating the concept of independence between vertical and horizontal motions in the absence of external factors such as air resistance.