In some SUVAT questions, they ask for 2 time solutions and I can only find 1. What am I missing?

Let's say we are trying to work out how long it will take for a ball to be caught after it has been thrown straight upwards. If we set the final displacement to be zero (S=0) and solve S=UT+0.5AT2, it appears that we only get one value for T. However, there will always be a step in your workings when you can cancel a T from both sides of the equation, for example: 5T2 = 100T can be simplified to 5T = 100. In this step, we miss out a solution that T=0! This corresponds to when the ball is just about to be thrown so is still in our hands (hence we have a solution for zero displacement!)

CI
Answered by Christopher I. Physics tutor

3515 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

What is the derivative of distance with respect to time.


Please see below.


A car of mass 1500kg is travelling at 10 ms-1 along a horizontal road. A brake force of 3000N brings it to rest. Calculate the deceleration of the car and the distance travelled by the car whilst decelerating.


A ball of mass 0.7 kg strikes the wall at an angle of 90 degrees with speed 72 km/h. Consider that the bounce lasts for 0.1 s and is perfectly elastic. What is the magnitude of the average reaction force from the wall that acts on the ball?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning