Projectile Motion
Investigating Projectile Motion
Introduction
Projectile motion is a type of motion that consists of horizontal and vertical motions which are independent from each other, known as vector components. For an object to be considered a projectile, it must not be self-propelled. Projectiles move horizontally at a constant velocity. However, they undergo uniform acceleration in the vertical direction, which is caused by gravity. An important aspect of projectile motion is that the time it takes for the object to travel on the Y axis is exactly the same as the time it takes to travel on the X axis. A practical example of this would be if you were to drop a bullet and fire a gun simultaneously and at the same height, they would both hit the ground at the exact same time. Projectiles are launched in 2 ways: horizontal launch and vertical launch. Horizontal launch is the when the object is launched horizontally from a height. An example of horizontal launch would be rolling a ball off a table. Angular motion is when the object is launched at an angle to the horizontal. An example of an angular launch would be a throwing a football. Understanding projectile motion allows for many real world problems to be solved.
Purpose: What is the instantaneous acceleration of the puck for different Δv vectors?
Procedure: 1) On a large sheet, 2 sets of data were printed, one for linear motion and one for projectile motion. 2) For the linear motion print, vectors were drawn between 3 adjacent dots for 3 different sets. 3) Velocity vector was determined by dividing the displacement vector by the time interval of 40 ms. 4) ΔV was calculated using Δv = v2 – (-v1). Acceleration for each Δv vector was calculated using a = Δv/t. Answer was converted to m/s. 5) Steps 2-5 were repeated for the two remaining pairs of displacement vectors. 6) For the initial horizontal projectile motion, a grid was drawn vertically and horizontally through the dots
Introduction
Projectile motion is a type of motion that consists of horizontal and vertical motions which are independent from each other, known as vector components. For an object to be considered a projectile, it must not be self-propelled. Projectiles move horizontally at a constant velocity. However, they undergo uniform acceleration in the vertical direction, which is caused by gravity. An important aspect of projectile motion is that the time it takes for the object to travel on the Y axis is exactly the same as the time it takes to travel on the X axis. A practical example of this would be if you were to drop a bullet and fire a gun simultaneously and at the same height, they would both hit the ground at the exact same time. Projectiles are launched in 2 ways: horizontal launch and vertical launch. Horizontal launch is the when the object is launched horizontally from a height. An example of horizontal launch would be rolling a ball off a table. Angular motion is when the object is launched at an angle to the horizontal. An example of an angular launch would be a throwing a football. Understanding projectile motion allows for many real world problems to be solved.
Purpose: What is the instantaneous acceleration of the puck for different Δv vectors?
Procedure: 1) On a large sheet, 2 sets of data were printed, one for linear motion and one for projectile motion. 2) For the linear motion print, vectors were drawn between 3 adjacent dots for 3 different sets. 3) Velocity vector was determined by dividing the displacement vector by the time interval of 40 ms. 4) ΔV was calculated using Δv = v2 – (-v1). Acceleration for each Δv vector was calculated using a = Δv/t. Answer was converted to m/s. 5) Steps 2-5 were repeated for the two remaining pairs of displacement vectors. 6) For the initial horizontal projectile motion, a grid was drawn vertically and horizontally through the dots