Lab 3: Projectile Motion

***This activity will be graded on correctness and quality, not just effort and
completeness.***

When doing any of the informal labs, you may either print out the assignment, fill it in,
and submit a pdf scan on Moodle or fill out the Word document on your computer and
submit that.

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/projectile-motion/latest/projectile-motion_en.html
Modified from PhET and Trish Loeblein

Learning Goals: Students will be able to

● Predict how varying initial conditions affect a projectile path
● Use reasoning to explain the predictions.
● Explain projectile motion terms in their own words.
● Describe why using the simulation is a good method for studying projectiles.

Everyday Physics in your life:

1. As you get ready for bed, you roll up one of your socks into a tight ball and toss it into
the laundry basket across the room. Then, you try to toss the other sock without rolling it
up. What effects whether or not your socks land in the basket?

The socks without rolling will not land in the basket because of the greater air resistance
offered to it because of mass per unit area. But when it is thrown with rolling its mass per
unit area increases and it can encounter gravity and air resistance more effectively.

Develop your understanding:

2. Use Intro screen to test your ideas about the things that affect the landing location of a
projectile.

a. Make a complete list of things that affect the landing site of a projectile including your
ideas from question #1 and any discoveries you made using the simulation.
b. Next to each item, briefly explain why you think the landing location changes.

a) According to the observations made in the question #1 and discoveries made using the
simulation are:

 Gravity
 Air Resistance
 Speed of Release
 Angle of Release
 Mass of the object

b)

 The picture clearly shows that all the parameters remains the same for the cannonball; the
only thing that changes is air resistance. The air resistance causes the cannonball to drop
earlier.

 If the above images are compared for the golf ball the only thing that change is gravity
and remaining all parameters are same. When the gravity is changed from 9.81 to 18m/s2
the trajectory path shortens because of the greater gravitational pull.
 In the above picture all the parameters are same for the baseball except the angle, the one
with the shorter angle has short trajectory path.

 In the case of piano all parameters are same except the initial speed. The piano with the
higher velocity has a longer trajectory path.
  In the case of car, all parameters are same except the height. The one with the greater
height has a long trajectory path.

3. What is meant by the expression “flight path of a projectile”? Draw the flight path of your
socks and describe the shape. Use the simulation to investigate how the items you listed in #2
affect the shape of the flight path. Summarize your discoveries including explanations for the
different flight paths.

 Flight Path of a projectile means the path followed by the body during the projectile
motion. The shape of flight path of the socks is parabolic as follows:
 The gravity affects the shape of flight path. Greater the gravity shorter will be the flight
path and hence it will be much steeper parabola.

 Greater the initial velocity of the object greater will be the path of flight and more steeper
parabolic shape it will have.

 Greater will be the angle of the object less steep parabolic it will have.
 Greater will be the height the steeper parabolic shape it will have.

 Air resistance has a very little effect on the flight of path and the shape remains the
parabolic.
4. Suppose your friend asks you to tell them about projectiles. You start to explain, but she
interrupts. “Wait,” she says, “You’re using a lot of words I don’t understand. Can you explain in
English?” Knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, you draw a picture of a projectile
path and label all the terms that are on the simulation page. Draw a picture like you would for
your friend and write what you would tell her about the terms. Insert an image of your drawing if
you can.

 Path of the flight is the distance followed by the object.

 Angle determines how high or low will be the path of flight.
 Height means how much above it is from the ground.
 Range means how distance is travelled along the ground only.

5. Describe in your own words why using the simulation is a good method for studying
projectiles. Include the error sources the simulation eliminates (or minimizes) and what
representations the simulation provides that are helpful.

With the help of simulation different factors affecting the projectile motion are observed
independently. It also gives an overview of the actual situation by including the air resistance.
It eliminates the error regarding the air resistance which is often neglected and shows the correct
path. It also minimizes the human error to read calculations. The measurement tools help to
remove parallax error.
 Expand your understanding:
6. Use the Lab screen to expand your ideas about what affects the landing location and path
of a projectile. List any discoveries you made to identify additional things that affect the
landing site of a projectile and/or path of a projectile. Next to each item, briefly explain why
you think the motion of the projectile is affected.

All the effects are discussed above briefly. No additional thing affects the path of projectile.
As discussed above the motion of projectile is affected by the following:
 Gravity
 Air Resistance
 Speed of Release
 Angle of Release
 Mass of the object

7. Compare your everyday experiences to the simulation. Design a few tests like rolling things
off a table or tossing some things into a basket or bowl to determine how well the simulation
represents projectile motion. Some good objects are tightly rolled socks or paper crumpled into a
ball. Write about your experiments and compare them to the simulation.

The tossing of the paper crupled ball from a table is shown as:

The simulation also does the same thing but with much more accuracy and describing every
factor affecting independently by allowing the change in every value and observe its sole effect.
8. Use the Lab screen for the remainder of the lab. Set the air resistance to zero (make sure the
button is not selected). You are going to launch an object (it doesn’t matter when there is no air
resistance, I like shooting the piano because it makes me laugh) with an initial velocity of 10 m/s
from a height of 8 m.
a) FIRST (before the simulation) calculate how far the object will go if initially
launched at an angle of 0 degrees (launched strictly horizontally.
b) Calculate what initial speed you need so that the object hits the ground 15 m away
from the base.
c) Verify both of your answers with the simulation.
d) If your cannon only shoots at 10 m/s and the platform is fixed at 8 m, what can
you do to try to hit the target at 15 m? Verify this with the simulation and record here what you
changed so that you hit the target.
e) If your cannon only shoots at 10 m/s and the cannon only launches horizontally,
how high must you launch the object from so that it lands at 15 m from the cannon? Do this with
math and the simulation.
f) Adding air resistance. Set the platform to a height of 15 m, angle 30 degrees, and
launch speed of 15 m/s. Launch the object with no air resistance. What do you expect to happen
when you add air resistance? Launch a cannonball and compare to your prediction. Launch a
piano and compare to your prediction. Try independently changing the mass of the cannonball,
the diameter of the cannonball, and then both together. Comment on what you find.

a) SY = vyt + ½(-gt2)
Where
Sy = -8m (height) ;
-g= -9.8m/s2 ;
vY= 0 m/s;
Putting values in above equation:
T= 1.265s

SX = vXt + ½(at2)
Where vX = 10 ;
t= 1.265s
a=0
SX = 12.65m
So horizontal distance travelled will be 12.65m.

b) SY = vYt + ½(-gt2)
Where SY = -8m;
vY = 0;
Putting values in above equation:
T= 1.28s
SX = vXt + ½(at2)
Where t= 1.28s
SX = 15m
a=0;
 VX = 11.89m/s.

c) Verification of part a is as follows:

 Verification of part b is as follows:

d) If the height and initial speed is fixed, then we can reach the 15m target by changing the angle
which is 150.

e) If the Initial speed and the target is fixed then we can change the height to 11m to reach the
15m target.
 f) Cannon ball:

Piano:

 When mass of cannonball is 18kg :

 When mass is changed to 20kg.

 When diameter is 0.15m the distance is 12.23m.

 When diameter is changed to 0.1m the distance remains the same.

 When both mass and diameter are increased together there is a little effect on the distance .

 When both diameter and mass are independently changed there is no effect on the flight of
path. But when both are changed then there is slight difference in the path of flight.