At what point in its path does a baseball that is hit to the outfield have its minimum vertical speed?
a. as soon as it leaves the bat
b. right before the outfielder catches it
c. at the point where it reaches its maximum height
d. the initial speed of the ball must be known to figure this out

At the point when it reaches its maximum height (answer C)

Explanation:

As soon as the ball leaves the bat is has not only horizontal component of the velocity, but also vertical, which allows it travel upwards in its trajectory.

When it reaches its maximum elevation, and the trajectory starts curving down, is when the velocity of the baseball is just horizontal (the vertical component has been reduced to zero due to the constant action of the acceleration of gravity which was slowing down it ascending pattern.

After that point, the ball starts gaining now vertical velocity being accelerated towards the center of the Earth due to gravity. At the maximum height of its path is when the vertical component of the velocity switches from positive (pointing up) to negative (pointing down) going through zero magnitude.

scattering of light by tiny particles in air to produce the colors we see on sky, is dependent on the following factors:

(i) wavelength of light

(ii) size of the scattering particle  

(iii) distance traveled by light through the atmosphere.

according to rayleigh's law of scattering, the amount of scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of its wavelength. shorter the wavelength, greater is its scattering. hence violet/blue light is scattered more than red.

sun's light is a composite light ( visible light) with wavelengths in the range 400 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red). as sunlight passes through our atmosphere, the molecules of air scatter light according to their wavelengths. during sunrise and sunset, the sun's position is below the horizon. hence light from the sun travels a greater distance in the atmosphere when compared to its position a noon.

as sunlight enters the earth's atmosphere, blue light is scattered away and at the end of its journey in the sky, only red and orange wavelengths remain in the beam.

hence at sunrise and sunset, the sky appears reddish orange.