III.

ANALYSIS

PRO1ECTILE MOTION

In this experiment, our objective is to analyze projectile motion. We will
study motion in two-dimensions. An object has motion in both and direction
has a two-dimensional motion. We will Iirst determine at what velocity the ball is
being Iired Irom the Iiring mechanism, and then with this knowledge and some
calculations. We will also determine how high and how Iar the ball will travel. We
will do these at diIIerent angles.
For this experiment we`re going to use a projectile launcher, a metal ball,
plumb line, iron stand with target board, meter stick and a key.

A. Initial velocity of the projectile

For this experiment we determined the initial velocity oI the projectile. We put the
launcher on an edge oI a platIorm, and set the angle oI the launcher to 0.
We Iirst make a test Ilight to approximate where the metal will Iall. AIter knowing
the landing position oI the ball, we place the wooden board with the carbon paper
and a bond paper to mark the landing position. AIter that, we measured the
distance Irom the crosshairs on the side oI the launcher up to the marked landing
position oI the metal ball. The vertical distance Irom the crosshairs on the side oI
the launcher down to the Iloor was 1.085 m. Knowing the height we can now
calculate Ior the time oI travel which was 0.471 s.

We can now calculate the initial velocity by the equation:

u =
x
t


where is the measured distance Irom the launcher up to the marked landing
position and t Ior the time oI travel which has a value oI 0.471 s.




AIter perIorming the experiment we acquired the Iollowing datas:

%#IAL HO#IZOA%AL DIS%AACE (X
o
) v
o

1 .30 m 4.88 m/s
2 .31 m 4.90 m/s
3 .3 m 4.93 m/s
4 .30 m 4.89 m/s
5 .31 m 4.90 m/s

The calculated average velocity oI the projectile was 4.9 m/s. We will use
this value Ior the next two parts oI the experiment.

. #ange of the Projectile
For this experiment, we set the launcher with its mouth near the edge oI the
laboratory side table as shown in the Iigure.
We set the angles oI the launcher to 0 and 60. AIter doing this, we can
now launched the ball and measure it`s landing position Irom the reIerence point.
We perIorm 5 trials Ior each angle to get the average and compare it to the actual
value oI the range.
For computing the actual range, we used the Iormula:
=
` sn0

where u is the average velocity computed earlier in the Iirst part oI the
experiment and has the value oI 4.9 m/s, g is the acceleration due to gravity and
has a value oI 9.8 m/s, and is the angle oI the projectile launcher. We computed
the value oI W, and we get .1 m, which is oI the same value Ior both the given
angles.
aIter perIorming the experiment, we get the Iollowing datas:
Launched angle (3`) Launched angle (`)
2.20 m 2.12 m
2.21 m 2.11 m
2.23 m 2.12 m
2.09 m 2.11 m
2.10 m 2.04 m

The average percentage diIIerence oI the experimental range Irom the actual
range when the launched angle was at 30 was .14 and 0.9 when the angle oI
projectile was at 60
When the launched angle was at 0, the metal ball will reach the ground
Iirst compared to that oI 60, it will also reach Iarther than that oI the launcher set
to 60.
When the speed oI the metal ball remains constant, and when it doesn`t
encounter signiIicant amount oI air resistance, the metal ball when launched at an
angle oI 45 will have the greatest range. The range oI a projectile is determined by
two parameters - the initial value oI the horizontal velocity component and the
hang time oI the projectile. The projectile launched at 60-degrees has the greatest
hang time; yet its range is limited by the Iact that the v
x
is the smallest oI all three
angles. The projectile launched at 30-degrees has the greatest v
x
oI all three launch
angles; yet its range is limited by the Iact that the hang time is so short. The
projectile launched at 45-degree does not win in either category, yet the Iact that it
is able to place a strong showing in each category contributes to its ability to
achieve the greatest range.

C. Maimum height of the projectile
For the last part oI this experiment, we will calculate the maximum height oI
the projectile by setting the launched angle again to both 30 and 60 degrees.
We placed the target board at the middle oI the computed range and
launched the ball in the target board then measure the maximum height oI the
projectile.
We computed the actual value oI Y
max
Ior the angles 0 and 60 by the
Iormula:
Y
max
=
( sIn0)`
2g

and we get 0.1 m and 0.9 m respectively.

aIter perIorming the experiments we acquired the Iollowing results:
Launched angle (3`) Launched angle (`)
0.299 m 0.911 m
0.286 m 0.933 m
0.310 m 0.891 m
0.305 m 0.920 m
0.298 m 0.942 m
The metal ball reached its maximum height when the launcher was set to 60
which is 0.94 m. The greater the angle oI the projectile the higher the peak height
it will have; the lower the angle oI the projectile, the lower the height it will gain.
The lower the angle oI the trajectory, the Iaster it will Iall to the ground.
The higher the angle oI the trajectory, the higher peak height it will have beIore
Ialling.