On the Apollo 14 mission to the moon, astronaut Alan Shepard hit a golf ball with a 6 iron. The acceleration due to gravity on the moon is 1/6 of its value on earth. Suppose he hits the ball with a speed of 23 m/s at an angle 25 degrees above the horizontal.

(a)How much farther did the ball travel on the moon than it would have on earth?

(b)For how much more time was the ball in flight?

a) 6 times farther.  b) 6 times longer.

Explanation:

Once released, in the horizontal direction, no other forces act on the ball, so it continues moving at the same initial velocity, which is given by the projection of the velocity vector in the horizontal direction, as follows:

vₓ = v* cos (25º) = 23 m/s * 0.906 = 20.8 m/s

In the vertical direction, the initial velocity is the projection of the velocity vector along the vertical axis, as follows:

vy = v* sin (25º) = 23 m/s * 0.422 = 9.72 m/s

Assuming that the acceleration is constant, and equal to 1/6*g, we can calculate the total time of flight, with the following kinematic equation for the vertical displacement:

If the total displacement in the vertical direction is 0 (which means  that the time if the total time of flight), we can solve for t, as follows:

On earth, this time could be calculated in the same way:

As the time is defined by the vertical movement, we can find the horizontal distance travelled on the moon, as follows:

Δx = v₀ₓ * t = 20.8 m/s * 11. 9 s = 248.1 m

On earth, the distance travelled had been as follows:

Δx = v₀ₓ * t = 20.8 m/s * 1.98 s = 41.3 m

⇒ Δx(moon) / Δx(earth) = 248.1 / 41.3 = 6.00

b) As we have just found, the time of flight on the moon and on the earth are as follows:

tmoon = 11. 9 s

tearth = 1.98 s

⇒ t(moon) / t(earth) = 11.9 / 1.98 = 6.0