Demonstrations

Projectile Motion - Spring Gun

Code Number :	1D60.40
Disclaimer:	Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website. The demonstrations contained and referenced herein are listed for the purposes of cataloging and describing physics demonstrations which should be conducted only under the direction of a trained instructional support professional or physicist. These demonstrations are not presented for the purpose of being conducted by persons unconnected to this Facility and/or persons not consulting with or being supervised by the recognized instructional support professional or physicist and his/her staff. The University is responsible only for those demonstrations carried out using its own equipment using established safety and scheduling policies, and bears no responsibility for those choosing to use this source material for their own purposes. All demonstrations described and contained herein are public domain, and can also be found in reference materials in libraries, bookstores, and electronic sources. Further information regarding legal liability in use of demonstrations and labs will be found on the web site Injuries in School/College Laboratories in USA. The University of Iowa Disclaimers: U of Iowa Disclaimer All Rights Reserved..
Condition :	Good
Principle :	Two - Dimensional Motion
Area of Study :	Mechanics
Equipment :	Masonite background, meter stick, short range spring gun, c-clamp.
Procedure :	Set the spring gun to the desired angle against the white background. Use one of the black balls out of the happy sad ball set as the projectile. Set the meter stick on the bottom of the background so that you can scale the video captured movie if desired.

Web Sites

Two simulation applets are for students modeling free fall and projective motion:

http://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/Cannon/index.html

http://www.nep.chubu.ac.jp/~nepjava/javacode/OneDimMotion/FreeFallOfABody.html

References

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Emiliano Salinas, Eduardo Verdin, Horacio Munguia, Raul Perez, Saul Robles, M. Enrique Alvarez, "Projectile Motion Board," TPT, Vol. 24, # 8, p. 495, (Nov. 1986).

Robert S. Knox, "Dropping Shoes", TPT, Vol. 24, # 4, Apr. 1986, p. 200.

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Arjun Tan, "On an Elliptical Property of Parabolic Trajectories", AJP, Vol. 73, # 3, March 2005, p. 197.

R. D. H. Warburton, and J. Wang, "Analysis of Asymptotic Projectile Motion With Air Resistance Using the Lambert W Function", AJP, Vol. 72, # 11, Nov. 2004, p. 1404.

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A. Tan, C. H. Frick, and O. Castillo, "The Fly Ball Trajectory: An Older Approach Revisited", AJP, Vol. 55, # 1, Jan. 1987, p. 37.

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G. W. Parker, "Projectile Motion with Air Resistance Quadratic in the Speed", AJP, Vol. 45, # 7, July 1977, p. 606.

Donald F. Kirwan, Jack Willis, "Notes on a Projectile Motion Experiment", AJP, Vol. 42, # 9, Sept. 1974, p. 775.

Eric R. Muller, "A Note on: "Deflection of Projectiles due to Rotation of the Earth", AJP, Vol. 40, # 7, July 1972, p. 1045.

Owen E. Thompson, "Coriolis Deflection of a Ballistic Projectile", AJP, Vol. 40, # 10, Oct. 1972, p. 1477.

G. Preston Burns, "Effect of Rotation of the Earth on Range of a Projectile", AJP, Vol. 40, # 10, Oct. 1972, p. 1536.

Michael C LoPresto, "Graphs Make Determination of Projectile Height and Range Easy", Physics Education, Vol. 40, (4), July 2005, p. 316.

M-166, "Strobe Photo Analog," DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.

Mail Questions and Comments to: Dale Stille