Find the muzzle velocity by shooting horizontally
- determine time of flight
- determine muzzle velocity
Find the position the projectile will land, by firing at an angle to the horizontal
- resolve x and y components of velocity
- determine time of flight
- determine horizontal distance.
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine where to position a projectile will land, when shot from a cannon at an angle from the horizontal.
photo gates (use only for verification as they take a lot of the learning away)
Method:
determine the muzzle velocity of the cannon (use experiment 1 or 2 or a reliable photo-gate)
Set the cannon to a known angle from the horizontal (use plumb bob to read angle)
Ensure angle is not so great that the projectile hits the ceiling
Resolve the muzzle velocity into its horizontal and vertical components.
Determine the time of flight (calculate to the top of flight then multiply by 2)
Using the time of flight and the calculated horizontal velocity, determine where the landing bucket (I often use a 2L ice-cream container with scrunched up paper and also introduce impulse) needs to be positioned.
Try it out. Students always love to test all this mathematics to see it really mean something in real life :)
Pitfalls / causes of error
The initial vertical height of the cannon should be the same as the landing container (note my ice cream container is on a book)
Securing the cannon to the bench (g-clamp or blue-tack etc.) ensures a more accurate shot.
Year 12 Mechanics Projectile Motion Experiment 3
- determine time of flight
- determine muzzle velocity
- resolve x and y components of velocity
- determine time of flight
- determine horizontal distance.
Purpose:
Equipment
Method:
Pitfalls / causes of error
Resources
Model data:
References / other comments: