Chapter 10, Problem 15ICA

We accidentally drop a tomato from the balcony of a high-rise apartment building. As it falls, the tomato has time to ponder some physics and says. “You know, the distance I have fallen equals one-half gravity times the time I have fallen squared.” Create a worksheet to solve the question of when the tomato goes splat.

• The user will input the initial balcony height in units of feet. Use data validation to set a limit for the height of 200 feet.
• Place the acceleration due to gravity in a cell under the balcony height and not within the formulas themselves. Be sure to watch the units for this problem!
• Column A will be the distance the tomato falls, starting at a distance of zero up to a distance of 200 feet, in 5-foot increments.
• Column B will show the calculated time elapsed at each distance fallen.
• Column C will display the status of the tomato as it falls.
  • If the tomato is still falling, the cell should display the distance the tomato still has to fall.
  • If the tomato hits the ground, the cell should display “SPLAT” on a red background.
  • SPLAT should appear once; the cells below are blank.

Test your worksheet using the following conditions:

1. I.            At a balcony height of 200 feet, the tomato should splat at a time of 3.52 seconds.
2. II.            At a balcony height of 50 feet, the tomato should splat at a time of 1.76 seconds.