ACTIVITY II

Motion in 2-Dimensions: Projectile Motion

Name: ________________________ Section: _________________ Subject: ______________

Group no.: _____________________ Instructor: _________________________

In technical terms, a projectile is any object given an initial velocity into space upon which
the only force acting on it is the gravity. Practically, any object thrown or launched into the air is a
projectile. A thrown baseball, a fired bullet, and an arrow flying towards its target are all projectiles.
In this activity, we will investigate projectile motion using the Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling
Tool for Physics Education (or Tracker).

Materials
The following materials are needed in this activity:
 Ball, around the size of a tennis ball
 Meter stick or tape measure
 Video recorder for capturing the movement of the ball
 Tracker Video Analysis software – You can download it here: https://physlets.org/tracker/
 Microsoft Excel

Objective
1. To analyse the motion of a projectile
2. To generate the equations of motion of a projectile

Theory
A projectile is a good example of an object moving in two dimensions. If we let the gravity to
be directed along the y-axis of the Cartesian coordinate system that we adopt for our analysis, then
only the vertical component of the projectile’s motion are undergoing uniform change as shown in
Table 1.

Table 1. Equations of Motion of a Projectile

x - component y - component

[1] 𝑣𝑥 = 𝑣0𝑥 𝑣𝑦 = 𝑣0𝑦 − 𝑔𝑡

1
[2] 𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣0𝑥 𝑡 𝑦 − 𝑦0 = 𝑣0𝑦 𝑡 − ( ) 𝑔𝑡 2
2

[3] −2𝑔(𝑦 − 𝑦0 ) = 𝑣𝑦 2 − 𝑣0𝑦 2

If the initial velocity of the projectile has no vertical component, then the equations of
motion in the vertical axis are
Table 2. Equation of motion in y-axis if voy = 0
y - component

𝑣𝑦 = −𝑔𝑡

1
𝑦 − 𝑦0 = − ( ) 𝑔𝑡 2
2

−2𝑔(𝑦 − 𝑦0 ) = 𝑣𝑦 2 − 𝑣0𝑦 2
PART I. Procedure

1. Place the ball near the edge of the table.

2. Mount the meter stick in a standing position at the side of the table.
3. Mount the video recorder on a stable platform facing the table-ball-stick setup. It must be
captured entirely in the screen including the floor.
4. Start the recording and gently push the ball so that it rolls toward the edge and drops on the
floor at some distance from the foot of the table as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Projectile Motion

5. Transfer the video recording files into your personal computer where Tracker is installed.
6. Set the origin of the coordinate system to be at the moment the ball is at the edge of the
table. The x-axis must be parallel to the floor and the y-axis be parallel to the leg of the
table.
7. When tracking the ball, begin from the moment it left the edge of the table and end tracking
at the moment it reaches the ground.
8. Repeat the entire procedure 4 times.

PART II. Analysis

1. Using Microsoft Excel, generate the x-t graph and the equation of the graph and record
them in Table 3.
2. Using Microsoft Excel, generate the y-t graph and the equation of the graph and record
them in Table 3.
 Table 3. Generate graphs and equations
Horizontal Axis (x – axis) Vertical Axis (y – axis)
Trial Sketch of the Graph (x-t) and Equation of Sketch of the Graph (y-t) and Equation of
the Graph the Graph
1

Eqn: Eqn:
2

Eqn: Eqn:
3

Eqn: Eqn:
4

Eqn: Eqn:
5

Eqn: Eqn:
 3. Using the generated equations, calculate for the values of vox, vx, voy, vy, ax, and ay, and
record them in Table 4.

Table 4. Values of initial and final velocities and accelerations

Trial vox vx ax voy vy ay
1
2
3
4
5
Average

Probing Questions

1. Compare the values of the horizontal components of initial and final velocities, vox and vx, of
the ball. Do their values confirm the theory above regarding the horizontal component of
the projectile’s motion? Explain. (5 pts)

2. Does the value of the acceleration in the horizontal axis, ax, confirm the theory regarding the
horizontal component of the projectile’s motion? Why? (5 pts)

3. Note the vertical component of the ball’s acceleration ay. If we give the ball a stronger push,
does the resulting value of ay still be comparable to this experiment’s result? Explain. (5 pts)

4. Let’s say the ball rolls and just drops from the edge of the table. Will the resulting value of ay
still be comparable to this experiment’s result? Explain. (5 pts)