Question

A person on the top of a hill throws one stone vertically upwards with a velocity u. He throws another stone from the same place in the downward direction with a velocity of u. What is the ratio of velocities of two stones on the bottom of the hill?

Answer 1

Both stones reach the bottom of the hill with the same speed. So the ratio of their speeds is 1.

Explanation:

The stone that is thrown upwards with a speed `u` will slow down as it ascends up, reach the highest point and turns around. When it comes back to the point where it was launched its speed will be same but the direction of velocity vector is downward now, which is what the velocity of the second object was. So it is has identical velocity vector as the second object and so will reach the base of the hill with the same speed as the second object.