A "drop shot" in tennis is a shot that barely passes the net and touches the other side of the court close to the net. This makes it difficult for the opponent to reach the ball if the opponent starts running for the ball from the baseline. A drop shot also has a backspin that makes the ball bounce off the ground in a funny way so that the opponent will have an even harder time. In this problem, we will look at this second part: the backspin. (See this for the first part without a backspin.)
You've hit a ball with a really strong backspin. The ball touches the ground from the net on the opponent's side with a velocity of at an angle of with the ground. It still spins backward when it bounces up. The coefficient of friction is and the coefficient of restitution is .
Where will the ball touch the ground again?
Details and Assumptions:
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The velocity components of the ball after the collision are
v x ′ = v x − μ ( 1 + e ) v y = − 1 . 0 m / s
v y ′ = e v y = 4 . 5 m / s
The ball will bonce backwards, and it will move a distance of
x = 2 g v x ′ v y ′ = − 0 . 8 7 m
therefore it will reach the ground at the bottom of the net.
Notes