Question

a family is 500 feet above the ground in the basket of a hot-air balloon ascending at the cosistat rate shown. At that height, someone accidentally drops a penny out of the balloon

Answer 1

We will have that the expression that represents the fall of the penny is:

$h_p(t)=\frac{1}{2}gt^2$

Her g is the gravitational pull of earth (It is inferred that it is negative in nature since the object will be falling) and t is the time the object has traveled.