Serway & Jewett — Conservation of Energy: Problem 28

A softball pitcher has a strange technique: she begins with her hand at rest at the highest point she can reach and then quickly rotates her arm backward so that the ball moves through a half-circle path. She releases the ball when her hand reaches the bottom of the path. The pitcher maintains a component of force on the 0.180-kg ball of constant magnitude 12.0 N in the direction of motion around the complete path. As the ball arrives at the bottom of the path, it leaves her hand with a speed of 25.0 m/s.