Question

A battle ship simultaneously fires two shells at enemy ships. Both are fired with the same speed but with different directions as shown. If the shells follow the parabolic trajectories shown, which ship gets hit first?

• A. Need more information about the trajectories.
• B. They get hit at the same time.
• C. Ship μ1
• D. Ship μ2

Answer 1

The correct option is B

They get hit at the same time.

Ship 2 gets hit first. The time of flight only depends on the y-component of motion, not the x-component. The higher you throw something up in the air, the more time it spends in the air. It can also be shown from equation-
y=v_0y t - ½ g t²=0

v_0y for projectile μ1 is greater than for μ2.