Projectile Motion Lab
By: Jake Williams
Purpose:
-After setting up the projectile launcher, we will use a steel ball to launch and record a set of data with to pinpoint exactly where, in centimeters, the ball will land from the launching station.
Theory:
-We've placed the projectile launcher on edge of one the physics tables to launch from. In order to get any data, we needed to set up two data gates in front of the launcher that's connected to a laptop in data studio. Once that set of 10 shots of data is fired on the second setting out of 3, in m/s, it is collected and after finding the average of that set, I will use an equation to find the range of the problem which will give me the total distance and pinpoint the exact spot the ball will land. Mr. Bowman will then record the first shot of the ball landing on a paper with exact measurement on it with carbon-paper on top of it to mark a spot on the measurement paper. 9 more shots will be fired afterwards and then determining how close and how much the ball was towards the measured line.
Experimental Technique:
-From the bottom of the floor, we measured about 76 cm in our chose location.
-This picture below represents the catching area or the area where the ball will be landing. This is the area we measure out to pinpoint exactly where it is going to land.
-This is a picture of the ball container sitting on top of the carbon paper that was used to mark the spots of the projectile shots.
Analysis:
-This data represents the first 10 shots fired to find the average for the equation.
-After finding the average, I then plugged that number into the equation shown above and the measurement came out to be 170cm. The real answer was originally 1.7 meters, but I converted it to centimeters for a more accurate measurement.
-The second Data is the shots fired after setting up the measured paper with a line across it marking the 170cm from the position of the launcher from the floor. This data represents how close the spots were from 170cm.
-Next is the raw data. After lifting up the carbon paper, the black dots mark where the ball hit every time it was fired. The arrow represents which direction it was fired from. Only one hit the 170cm line, but it was one more than what I expected. Most of the shots were just a little short.
-Lastly, the Percent Difference was calculated. The results were drastically close.
Conclusion:
What seems uncertain about about the range measurement is how it is exactly 170.0cm. In my mind, I feel that could have been a slight error in measuring, but possibly not. It is still astounding with how close the predicted and measured distance are. It proves that physics works. They were only .1 off which is still a success. Measuring to the exact point could take very much time and unnecessary measuring. Errors could be in a few aspects of this experiment. The three settings could vary in all the projectile launchers for mine was fired at the second setting. Mine, for the most part, was very consistant. The mass of the balls could be different too which could affect how far it travels for we were all using different named balls. Would wind resistance affect this experiment? Other than the constance resistance that pushes up against objects as they fall, there is no other resistance that would be a factor since this experiment was done inside.
References:
http://Devinsaysphysicsisaverb.weebly.com
http://Devinsaysphysicsisaverb.weebly.com