Today the students have looked at the relationship
that launch angle plays with projectile motion. Students
used the PhET simulator for projectiles to design and conduct their own
experiment.
The students were
introduced to the concept of projectile motion, of which they are often
familiar from life experiences, such as playing sports like basketball and
baseball, even though they may not understand the physics involved.
Understanding projectile motion is important to many engineering designs and this workshop was important as the students will take part in the catapult challenge.
The goal was to find the speed and position of the thrown body, describe
the trajectory and determine the range of the throw, to understand and explain
the parabolic motion of a thrown object, known as projectile motion. They have
become familiar with the relationship between launch angle and range.
In the experiment, thyy changed the angle of a cannon, the initial velocity, the mass and saw how they affect the distance a cannonball travels. They could also fired various objects
out of a cannon.
