Chapter 2 - Motion in One Dimension

Problem 32
Question
Assume that Galileo had attempted to drop two objects off of the Tower of Pisa
(height 56 m). (a) If he had released the objects from his hands, but dropped
one slightly sooner than the second with a time difference of ∆t = 0.1 s, then
what would be the vertical separation of the two objects just before hitting the
ground? (b) What release accuracy ∆t would he need so that the two objects
would have a vertical separation of less than 1 cm just prior to hitting the
ground? (Ignore any effects of air friction.)

Answer
∆x = (1/2)g(2t∆t −
The vertical separation for two objects would be given by: √
∆t2 ). For a height h, this difference would be ∆x = ∆t( 2hg − g∆t/2). (a)
Thus, for the Tower of Pisa this is: 3.3 m. (b) We can find to satisfy this limit,
s r !
2h ∆x
∆t = 1± 1− .
g h

For our situation, this results in ∆t ≤ 3 × 10−4 .