Projectile Motion Essay

Introduction Projectile motion is key component in everyday life. Whether it’s a football player kicking the ball to score a winning field goal or a frustrated student crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it into the trash can, projectile motion is all arounds us. The idea of projectile motion was taught to us by varying physicists like Aristotle and Galileo. Using Aristotle's original notion that shot objects stay along a straight path until its impetus is lost, the famous physicist Galileo discovered that projectiles instead follow a curved path. Galileo also found that projectile motion is understood by thinking of the horizontal axis and vertical axis separately.(1) Galileo and Aristotle’s ideas of projectile motion could be represented

Using the equations from figure 3, and knowing the horizontal velocity is constant, we were able to find the total time for the motion. Using the equation 훥t=ΔdVav it was discovered that the total time elapsed during the projectile's flight was 1.56 seconds. The components of the motion can be separated into two components, vertical and horizontal (refer to Figure 1).To test the accuracy of this measurement, an equation can be used. The equation focuses only on horizontal components (Figure 1). To find the horizontal range, the equation 횫dx=Vav횫t +12a횫t2. Using the idea that a= 0m/s2,meaning that there is no horizontal velocity, we determined that the actual range of the object would be 19.59m. In conclusion, we found that the muzzle speed was 17.66m/s and the range was

The theory is that when an object is shot at a 45° angle, it will have its maximum possible range. After shooting it with no angle upwards, and then with it’s 45° angle, it is quite clear that the theory is true. Shooting it horizontally with no angle provides us with proof, because it only shot a short distance before hitting the ground. The experiment differed from what was expected because it seems accurate that with a smaller gun, a smaller range would be fitting. This however, was not the case. Based on Aristotle’s theory that shot objects stay along a straight path until its impetus is lost, our experiment seemed to arch upwards and not follow any straight line (Figure. 2). Science is about testing the theories, and finding conclusions. Shooting a projectile out of a nerf gun tested Galileo's theory, and proved that he is indeed correct by assigning vertical and horizontal motion to a projectile motion. The data found proves how codependent the different aspects of the data are. For example, if the time was different by even 0.1 second, the projectile's range could be different by almost 2 metres. After the range was measured at 19.5m, it was decided that using equations would give a more accurate number.This was true as the actual range of the projectile was 19.59m. This provides our original measurement with a 45% measurement error. The experiment could be improved by