Tom the cat is chasing Jerry the mouse across the surface of a table 1.5 m above the floor?

Question

Jerry steps out of the way at the last second, and Tom slides off the edge of the table at a speed of 4.9 m/s. Where will Tom strike the floor?
___m from the table

What velocity components will he have just before he hits? (Use a coordinate system in which up is positive.)

x___m/s

y___m/s

Answer 1

Since
Sy=h=.5 gt^2 then
t=sqrt(2h/g) this is the time required fro Tom to spend in free fall)

Sx=Vxt=Vx sqrt(2h/g) (same time Tom spent in the air)
Sx=Vx sqrt(2h/g)=
Sx=4.9 sqrt(2 x 1.5 /9.81)=
Sx=2.71 m

Vx= 4.9 m/s (horizontal companioned remains constant)
Vy=gt= sqrt(2hg)=
Vy=sqrt(2 x 1.5 x 9.81)=5.4 m/s

Answer 2

Calculate the time, which isn't affected by the fact that he has speed parallel to the floor; it's the same as if he just were dropped.

The problem surely assumes no air resistance, so he'll be moving parallel to the floor at 4.9 m/sec all the way through, for the number of seconds you just computed.

Best to take x as the direction of his initial movement, and y pointing up from the ground (so that his y velocity component becomes negative).

You should be able to take it from there.