EXPERIMENT

Projectile Motion

Objectives

In this experiment, the student is expected to:

ˆ apply concepts from two-dimensional kinematics to predict the impact point of a

ball in projectile motion.

ˆ describe the trajectory of a ball in projectile motion

Introduction

A projectile is any object that is thrown with some initial velocity and is subject to
uniform acceleration due to gravity. You may have observed one when you watched or
played any sport involving balls e.g., basketball, tennis, soccer, etc. Although the ball’s
motion might be complicated at some time, you will always notice that arching motion
as it flies unimpeded. We may model its motion by arguing the following,

1. The motion along perpendicular directions are independent.

2. The most significant contribution to produce the motion of the projectile is gravity.

The first statement urges us to use vectors in specifying our projectile’s state, i.e.
position vector and velocity vector. The second statement simplifies our model such
that the projectile will experience uniform acceleration along the vertical (downward)
direction. With these, we can write the horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (y-axis) equations
of motion separately as,

ax = 0 ay = −g (1)
vx = vx0 vy = vy0 − gt (2)
x = x0 + vx0 t y = y0 + v0y t − 21 gt2 (3)

Note the convention used in setting up the coordinate system. These equations can
be used to compute the curve of the trajectory of the projectile in space by eliminating
the time parameter in the x(t) and y(t) equations. One yields the following equation,
g
y(x) = y0 + tan(θ)(x − x0 ) − (x − x0 )2 (4)
2v02 2
cos (θ)

Projectile Motion 1
1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022 Physics 71.1

One can see that the trajectory looks like a parabola. In the experiment, we can
confirm this by obtaining a data set of heights (y) for every horizontal displacement
(x − x0 ). Furthermore, we can set a the y = y0 in the equation above and yield an
equation for the effective range x = R of the projectile,
v02 sin 2θ
R= (5)
g
We can confirm this relation by predicting the effective range of the projectile launched
at some angle of elevation θ and initial speed v0 .

Materials

The following materials are required for the experiment:

ˆ PhET Projectile Motion Simulation

– https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/projectile-motion
– can be used on both laptop and mobile phone
– click the play button on the sample screenshot to use
*Note: PhET Interactive Simulations are developed by the University of Colorado Boulder
and are available at https://phet.colorado.edu.

Procedure

Part 0: Familiarization with PhET

1. Upon clicking the play button, you will be redirected to a new page with four icons
(Intro, Vectors, Drag and Lab).
2. For this experiment, you will only be using the Intro interface. However, feel free
to explore the other three interfaces and their different options.

3. - Drag base to change height, and drag cannon mouth to change

angle. Initial height should be set to 0.

4. - Click to remove all previous trials.

5. - Click to shoot projectile with current parameters. Trajectory will

stay on screen.

2
Physics 71.1 1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022

6. - Drag crosshairs to a particular point to measure time, range and

height at that point. Only works for defined points on the trajectory.

7. - Drag end of tape measure to measure arbitrary lengths.

8. - Allows user to choose projectile type. Any choice will do fine. Make
sure that Air Resistance is toggled OFF.

9. - Click to enable real-time visualization of velocity and acceleration

vectors.

*Note: Icons are taken from https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/projectile-motion

Part 1: Measuring range of projectiles

In this part, the range of a projectile for varying launch angles and initial velocities will
be measured.

1. Set initial velocity to 10 (m/s) and initial height to 0 (m).

2. Drag the cannon mouth the change the initial angle.

3. Launch the projectile by clicking the shoot button. Drag the Time-Range-Height
crosshairs to the landing spot to measure the range of that trial.

4. Measure the range for all angle values in the table

5. Repeat for different initial velocities (15 (m/s) and 20 (m/s).

Part 2: Trajectory of projectiles

In this part, the height of a projectile for varying horizontal distances will be determined.

1. Select a launch angle among those used in Part 1, then adjust the angle of the
cannon to this value.

2. Launch the ball by clicking the shoot button. Drag the Time-Range-Height crosshairs
to any point along the trajectory to measure the horizontal(range) and verti-
cal(height) of that point. Repeat this step for other horizontal distances.

3. Do the same for different initial velocities (15 (m/s) and 20 (m/s).

Projectile Motion 3
1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022 Physics 71.1

Part 3: Data Analysis

1. Use a spreadsheet program to graph your data in Table W1 and W2 for all velocities.
Superimpose your plots and place them Figures 1 and 2. Correctly label both
axes.

2. Use Microsoft Excel or any spreadsheet software to add a best-fit line and R2 value
for each plot. (Skip this step if you are offline.)

4
Physics 71.1 1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022

Name: Date:
Group members: Instructor:

Data Sheet

Table W1: Range of a Projectile

Projectile Type,

Rexpt (m)
Angle
10 (m/s) 15 (m/s) 20 (m/s)
25◦
30◦
45◦
60◦
75◦

Table W2: Trajectory of a Projectile

Projectile Type,

10 (m/s) 15 (m/s) 20 (m/s)

xexpt (m) yexpt (m) xexpt (m) yexpt (m) xexpt (m) yexpt (m)

Projectile Motion 5
1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022 Physics 71.1

sin(2θ)

Figure 1: Plot of Rexpt vs sin(2θ)

Figure 2: Plot of yexpt vs. x

6
Physics 71.1 1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022

Questions

Answer the following questions in no more than two sentences.

1. Are your graphs consistent with the expected behavior based on Equations 4 and
5? Explain.

2. What assumption(s) must be made in using Equations 4 and 5?

3. Try turning on Air Resistance in the simulation. What are the effects of air resis-
tance on the range and final height of a projectile?

Projectile Motion 7
1st Semester, A.Y. 2021–2022 Physics 71.1

Copyright Notice

This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of the
University of the Philippines pursuant to PART IV: The Law on Copyright of Republic
Act (RA) 8293 or the “Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines”. The University
does not authorize you to reproduce or communicate this material. The Material may
contain works that are subject to copyright protections under RA 8293. Any reproduction
and/or communication of the material by you may be subject to copyright infringement
and the copyright owners have the right to take legal action against such infringement.