I need help I'm confused on what to do​

How do i start to solve? would appreciate a walk-thru! a bird sitting 16ft above the ground in an apple tree dislodges an apple. after how many seconds does the apple land on the ground? (assuming that no branches will interfere with it's fall)

What is the period of the sinusoidal function ?

The population of a bacteria colony grows by a consistent percentage each hour and can be modeled by the function y = 500(1.16)t. what does the value 500 represent in the function?