How fast was the car traveling when it went over the cliff?______m/s?

Question

A car drivers straight off the edge of a cliff that is 52 m high. The police at the scene of the accident observed that the point of impact is 131 m from the base of the cliff.

Answer 1

if the car drove straight off the cliff it had no initial velocity.  this means it was in the air for a time equal to the time it takes to drop from a height of 52 m.  this time is given by:

dist=1/2 gt^2

t=sqrt[2xd/g]=sqrt[2x52/9.8]=3.26s

assuming there are no forces in the horizontal direction, the horizontal motion of the car is a constant during the fall.  this means that the car traveled 131 m horizontally at a constant rate during the 3.26 s the car was in the air

thus, its initial horizontal speed was 131/3/26=40.2m/s