1. PhET Simulation: Projectile Motion

To run the PhET Simulation “Projectile Motion”, follow the link below and download the program by clicking “Run Now”.

Follow the directions and use the simulation to answer the following questions. Type in your answers and/or paste screenshots where indicated. Save your completed worksheet as a PDF file with your first and last name in the file name, then email it to your instructor by the deadline indicated on your course syllabus.

Learning Objectives:

  • Predict how varying initial conditions affect a projectile path
  • Use reasoning to explain the predictions.
  • Explain projectile motion in your own words.

Procedure:

  1. You are invited to throw a half-court shot into a basketball hoop during halftime at a Blazers game. What affects whether or not the ball goes through the hoop?
  1. Use the simulation to test your ideas about the things that affect the landing location of a projectile. Make a complete list of things that affect the landing site of a projectile including your ideas from question #1 and any discoveries you made using the simulation. Next to each item, briefly explain why you think the landing location is affected by that variable:
  1. Was there anything you thought would affect the landing site of a projectile that turned out not to? If so, what was it? Can you explain why it doesn’t have an effect?
  1. Turn off air resistance. Use the tape measure in the simulation to measure the distance from the cannon to the target: ______m
  1. If the cannon is set to an initial angle of 65°, use the simulation to find the initial velocity needed to hit the target: ______m/s.
  1. Predict with kinematics equations how long the projectile was in the air: ______s
  1. The simulation also shows the time of flight at the top. Does it match what you calculated? If not, what is the source of error?

5. Describe why using the simulation is a good method for studying projectiles. Clearly identify the error sources the simulation eliminates or minimizes. Also, run tests to determine how well the simulation represents projectile motion and identify limitations.

2. Rutgers Physics: Glider on Air Track

You will need to have Quicktime or VLC (or another video player that can play .MOV files) installed on your computer in order to view the Rutgers Physics videos. If you get an error that Quicktime needs your permission to run, right-click on the video and select “Run this plug-in.” At the bottom of each video, you will see the control buttons: Play, step back, and step forward. After viewing each video normally, you may wish to step through the video frame by frame. Notice that the frame rate is listed to the right of the video so you know how many frames per second (fps) the video was taken at. If you have trouble viewing small details on the video, it will help to download the video so that you can resize the video screen when viewing it.

Read the introduction paragraphs above each assigned video. There are a series of questions about the video listed below the video window. I have chosen a selection of questions for you to answer here. Type in your answers and/or paste screenshots where indicated.

Learning Objectives:

  • Better understand motion and a constant rate through qualitative and quantitative observations
  • Better understand motion at a constantly changing rate through qualitative and quantitative observations.

To run the Rutgers Physics Simulation,“Glider on Air Track: Quantitative Observational Experiment”, follow the link below:

Aim:to determine how the position of three different gliders depend on the clock reading.

Procedure: In order to complete this task, you will need a spreadsheet program such as Excel to record and plot data. Observe the motion of the glider for each of the three experiments.

  1. Observe the position of the glider frame by frame for the 3 separate experiments that are shown on the video (the three experiments are the glider going past at three different speeds). If you were to graph these three trials on a position versus time graph,
  2. What would the pattern of this graph be?
  1. What is different about each trial in terms of their graphical properties?
  1. Decide what type of motion the glider exhibits: motion with constant rate or motion with changing rate.

3. Rutgers Physics: Ball and Cart

To run the Rutgers Physics Simulation,“Ball and Cart: Observational Experiment”, follow the link below:

Aim:to understand the motion of projectiles

Procedure: Watch the video and answer the following questions:

  1. For each of the 3 trials, observe the motion of the ball with respect to the table. Describe what you observe in simple words:
  2. For each of the 3 trials, observe the motion of the cart with respect to the table. Describe what you observe in simple words.
  3. For each of the 3 trials, observe the motion of the ball with respect to the cart. Describe what you observe in simple words.
  1. Why do you think the ball always returned to the cart? Devise as many explanations as possible.
  1. How can you test each explanation? Propose a testing experiment for each.