Your friend standing on a 45 foot balcony. He asks you to throw a baseball up to him. You throw a baseball with an initial upward velocity of 50 ft./s. Assuming that you released the baseball 6 feet above the ground, did it reach your friend? Explain.

Vertical motion formula is h = - 16t^2 + vt + s where v is initial velocity and s is starting height:

h = - 16t^2 + 50t + 6

Solving for t: - 50/-32 = 1.5625 seconds to reach maximum height.

Now replace t and solve for h (maximum height)

h = - 16 (1.5625) ^2 + 50 (1.5625) + 6

h = 45.0625

The value for h is greater than the height of the balcony, so yes the ball reached the friend.