Projectile Motion Lab

Rogelio Lizarraga Acedo

10/9/2019
Period 3
Objective
The goal of the lab we did in class was to find the time, speed, and distance of a rocket.

We learned how to measure the speed, with time and distance. To do this we measure the time

that a rocket took to go up and to hit the ground again, this helped us find the variable of time.

Our team also measured the distance that a rocket traveled in a straight line. Lastly, we

calculated the average time up, the maximum height, and the horizontal distance of the rocket.

Introduction

Projectile motion is a form of motion that goes through a curved path, meaning that it goes

up and then down, or vice versa. A good example of projectile motion would be the shooting of a

rocket, the rocket is first shoot upwards and then comes down in a curved path if this is graphed.

This happens because of the force of gravity that’s applied to the rocket, gravity makes the

rocket come back down with the same speed that it was going up. Whenever this happens, the

speed of an item that’s projected upwards will always be zero at the midpoint, when it stops

ascending and starts descending.

Experimental Design

In this experiment, we first went outside into an area where we can launch our rockets. We

then were handed the rocket itself, the device to launch the rocket, a pump, and two distinct caps

to use. For our first table, we timed how long the rocket would take to fly up and then back down

for both the small and big cap. We then were able to calculate our initial velocities using this

data, and we recorded it onto table number two. After recording the initial velocities, we placed

the rockets at a 45-degree angle as we prepared to launch them once more and record their

displacement. We launched the rocket twice for each cap and recorded our data. 
Table 1: Trial and Data

Cap Type Trial Total Time Time Up Average Time Up

1 5.3 secs. 2.5 secs.
2 5.4 secs. 2.8 secs.
Medium 3 5.8 secs. 2.9 secs. 2.75 secs.
4 5.4 secs. 2.8 secs.

1 6.5 secs. 3.25 secs.

2 6.2 secs. 3.1 secs.
High 3 6.8 secs. 3.4 secs. 3.225 secs.
4 6.3 secs. 3.15 secs.

Table 2: Initial Velocities

Cap Type Initial Velocity (s)
Medium 26.95
High 31.605

Table 3: Range Computation

Angle/ Cap Type Ra (Calculated) Rb (Measured) Rb average % Error
(m)
45 degrees 52.5 m. 50 m. 47.5 m 10.5%
Medium Cap 45 m
45 degrees 71.9 m 75.4 m 74.2 m -3.099%
High Cap 73 m

Sample Calculations

Table 1: 

AVG = a+b+c+d / 4
Table 2:

Vi = g(avg)

Vi = 0.81(2.65)

Table 3:

Vfy = Viy - gt

23.5 cos45

Conclusions

In this experiment we did meet our objective of calculating the values of the rocket. We

were able to use our knowledge of the equations and were able to calculate what the ideal values

were, along with our percent error. We collected an average of 47.95 meters in our data, while

the accepted value was 54 meters, giving us a 12.6% error for the medium cap. For the high cap,

we collected an average of 65.5 meters, with the accepted value being 69.7 meters, giving us a

percent error of 6.41% for the high cap. Our results were not far from the accepted values, which

means we executed the experiment correctly. Some of our sources of error, could have been not

using the pump correctly, as we could’ve put more air into some launches more than others. As

well as the weather and wind outside, as that could have affected the rockets projected distance

that it covered. To fix this, we can perform this experiment in a closed area such as an

auditorium, as well as an automated pump, so the amount of pressure is the same at every

launch.