As an object falls, its speed continues to increase, so its height above the ground decreases at a faster and faster rate. Ignoring air resistance, you can model the object's height with the function
Nature An acorn drops from a tree branch 20 ft above the ground. The function
Know | Need | Plan |
---|---|---|
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The function's graph and the time the acorn hits the ground | Use a table of values to graph the function. Use the graph to estimate when the acorn hits the ground. |
Can you choose negative values for t? No. t represents time, so it cannot be negative.
t |
|
---|---|
0 | 20 |
0.5 | 16 |
1 | 4 |
1.5 |
|
The acorn hits the ground when its height above the ground is 0 ft. From the graph, you can see that the acorn hits the ground after slightly more than 1 s.
Graph the parabola. Identify the vertex.