Bolt tower

A castle wall has bolt throwers which fire a bolt horizontally at a speed v,v . In order to fire over the enemy's shields, the bolt must make an angle of at least theta, equals, 45, degrees,θ=45
∘
to the horizontal when it hits the ground. The bolt throwers can be mounted at different heights in the wall and set to fire at different speeds. Ignore friction.

can some explaain what im supposed to do in simple terms im so confused , to start with i tried to vertically and horizontally solve the question and it got me even more confused ?

Reply 1

lordaxil

Well, you didn't post the actual question, but assuming it was "Find the maximum range s of a bolt fired from a height h." then it might help to start by drawing a velocity diagram at the point where the bolt reaches exactly 45 degrees angle with the horizontal. You may then realise this gives a special relationship between horizontal and vertical velocities. Use conservation of energy to get a relationship between velocity and initial height, and then eliminate the velocity between these two.