Bill steps off a 3.2 m high diving board and drops to the water below. ?

Full question: Bill steps off a 3.2 m high diving board and drops to the water below. At the same time, Ted jumps upward with a speed of 3.5 m/s from a 1.0 m high diving board. Choosing the origin to be at the water’s surface, and upward to be the positive x direction, write the x-versus-t of motion for both Bill and Ted. (Use g and t, as necessary.)

They want a formula for their position (x) at any given time (t). There are three parts to it, their initial position, their initial speed, and their acceleration. Your position needs to be in units of meters, so make sure all of your units match as you put the formula together.

Bill:
Starting position: 3.2m This is already in meters, so it’s okay.
Starting speed: 0 He just steps off, no initial speed
Acceleration: -g is the acceleration from gravity. It’s in units of m/s², so you’ll need to multiply by t² to get units of m. We make this negative because the acceleration is downward.
Put it all together:
x = 3.2 – gt²

Ted:
Starting position: 1.0m This is already in meters, so it’s okay.
Starting speed: 3.5 m/s We need to multiply this my t to get it in units of m, so it’s 3.5t
Acceleration: -gt² will be the same for Ted
x = 1.0 + 3.5t – gt²

funny 10 meter climb + jump from dis-used diving board

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