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Dale E. Gary
NJIT Physics Department
Linear Air Resistance Recap-1
When a projectile moves through the air (or other medium—such as gas or
liquid), it experiences a drag force, which depends on velocity and acts in
the direction opposite the motion (i.e. it always acts to slow the projectile).
Quite generally, we can write this force as f f (v) vˆ, where the function
f(v) can in general be any function of velocity.
At relatively slow speeds, it is often a good approximation to write
f (v) bv cv 2 f lin f quad
where flin and fquad stand for the linear and quadratic terms, respectively:
f lin bv and f quad cv 2
For linear air resistance, the equation of motion is mr mg bv or in terms
of velocity, it is a first-order differential equation mv mg bv , which has
component equations: mv x bv x
mv y mg bv y
v x b v y b
Equations ofmg this form can be written: ;
vx m v y vter m
v
where ter
b is the terminal velocity.
September 10, 2009
Linear Air Resistance Recap-2
Such equations are said to be in separable form (terms involving v on one
side, and no dependence on v on the other side). Solutions of this
particular form, e.g. dv x b dv y b
dt ; dt
vx m v y vter m
have exponential solutions:
v x v xo e t / v y v yo e t / vter (1 e t / ) m / b
which we then integrate to get x and y positions:
x(t ) x 1 e t / y (t ) vter t v yo vter (1 e )
t /
t t
They may look similar at first to the linear case, but now the velocity as t
approaches zero much more slowly, like 1/t, so the position does not approach
some limiting value x like in the linear case, but rather continues to increase
forever. If this sounds impossible, you are right. What really happens is that
as the speed drops, quadratic drag gets swamped by linear drag.
September 10, 2009
Vertical Motion with Quadratic Drag
We now consider motion solely in the vertical direction, governed by the
equation of motion: mv mg cv 2 [vertical motion]
Before we write the vertical equation in separated form, however, we notice
as before that the gravity force mg is balanced by the drag force cvy2 at
terminal velocity mg
vter
c
after which v y 0 , i.e. the velocity becomes constant. In terms of vter, the
separated form for the vertical equation is:
dv
g dt
1 v 2 / vter
2
In this separated form, we can integrate both sides directly (assuming vo = 0).
v dv t
0 1 v2 / vter2 g 0 dt
dx
2 arctanh x
Looking at the inside front cover of the book we find 1 x
which is what we have if we write x = v/vter. What the heck is arctanh?
September 10, 2009
Hyperbolic Functions—Problem 2.33(a)
Statement of the Problem:
The hyperbolic functions cosh z and sinh z are defined as follows:
e z e z e z e z
cosh z and sinh z
2 2
for any z, real or complex. (a) Sketch the behavior of both functions over a suitable
range of real values of z.
cosh z sinh z
ez ez
e z 2 2
1
2
1 1
2 2
z z
12 ez
2
cosh z dz sinh z
sinh z dz cosh z
Solution:
Making that substitution, we have dx = cosh z dz, so:
cosh z dz cosh z dz
2
1 sinh z
2 2
cosh z sinh z sinh z 2
dz z
but
sinh z x z arcsinh x
v dv v / v ter dx
The left side is 0 1 v2 / vter2 ter 0 1 x 2
v
v / vter v
vter arctanh x 0 vter arctanh
vter gt
v(t ) vter tanh
while the right side is just gt, so solving for v, we get vter
To get the position, integrate (see Prob. 2.34) to get 2
vter gt
y (t ) ln cosh
g vter
September 10, 2009
Example 2.5
A Baseball Dropped from a High Tower
Find the terminal speed of a baseball (diameter D = 7 cm , mass m = 0.15 kg).
Make plots of its velocity and position for the first six seconds after it is dropped
from a tall tower.
Solution
Recall that the constant c can be written c = D2., where = 0.25 Ns2/m2. So
mg (0.15 kg)(9.8 m/s 2 )
vter 2 2 2
35 m/s
c (0.25 Nm /s )(0.07 m)
which is nearly 80 mph.
You can sketch the velocity and position, or you can calculate it in Matlab. Here
are the plots. As expected, the velocity increases more slowly than it would in a
vacuum under gravity (dashed line), and approaches vter = 35 m/s (dotted line).
As a consequence, the position is less than the parabolic dependence in vacuum.
The last step is to name the function and indicate the inputs and outputs.
ODE45 specifies that the function must have two inputs—the limits of the
independent variable (time in this case), and the array of initial conditions (start
velocity in x and y in this case). function vdot = quad_drag(t,v)
…
[block 1]
[block 2]
…
vdot = [vdot_x; vdot_y];