The stunt is performed by a guy who claims to have invented a zero-friction material. If he’s right, all of the jumper’s gravitational potential energy at the top of the slope is turned into the kinetic energy of his motion at the end of the ramp. Make some assumptions and try to calculate the velocity vector of the jumper at the end of the ramp – compare your findings with the gravitational potential energy available and decide if it is at least theoretically possible to perform such a cunning stunt. If so, how much higher should the start point be, above the take-off point?
Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity. If we constrain ourselves to thinking about motion in one dimension (direction), this is easily written as , where and are final and initial speeds, respectively. This relationship is easily rearranged to obtain an expression for final speed .
This is the first derivation of three that you should be able to perform. The other two, and are explained by Mr. Spittal in the following video clips:
Part 2 of a worked solution to the following problem:
A golf ball is driven at an angle of 30 degrees to the horizontal at a speed of 12 metres per second. Calculate the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity and thereby the maximum height of the ball, the time of flight and the distance travelled when it lands.
Part 1 of a worked solution to the following problem:
A golf ball is driven at an angle of 30 degrees to the horizontal at a speed of 12 metres per second. Calculate the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity and thereby the maximum height of the ball, the time of flight and the distance travelled when it lands.
, where 
and 
are final and initial speeds, respectively. This relationship is easily rearranged to obtain an expression for final speed 
.
and 
are explained by Mr. Spittal in the following video clips:
