AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS SCHOOL

Launch Height of a
Marble Against its
Range
Projectile Motion Practical Report
By Jasmin Malhotra
LSG18 Kay Gillett
Marking Teacher: Matthew Verdon
Due: 1st July 2016
STAGE 2 SACE Report

Prior to completing this investigation, a risk assessment was completed to make

sure it was known to what measures the equipment and environment around the
area required handling, and watchfulness of. This can be seen below in table 1.
Table 1: Risk assessment completed prior to the completion of the experiment with an
overall Hazard Assessment rated as HIGH

Possible Hazard
Choking
Tripping Hazard

Health

Safety Hazard Risk Assessment

Suggested Safe Operating
Procedure
- Do now swallow or ingest marble
- Make sure area of drop of marble
is clear of a possible walk way
- Make sure marble is removed
from the ground once data is
recorded
- Make sure before marble is
projected, people are clear of the
area

Introduction
A projectile can be any object that is influenced under the force of gravity.
Gravity acts to influence the vertical motion of the projectile, therefore causing a
vertical acceleration upon it. A projectile can be given by any object that once
projected or dropped, continues in motion by its own inertia 1, and the influence
of forces including gravity and air resistance (Physicsclassroom.com, 2016). An
object that is thrown upward at an angle to the horizontal, or vertically upward
are both considered to be projectiles. An object dropped from rest is also
considered a projectile provided that the influence of air resistance is negligible.
An example of this is releasing a marble on a ramp from its initial rest position.
With the influence of gravity, the marble is forced to create a parabolic shape
during its motion in flight, once it leaves the ramp. This motion allows it to drop
at a certain distance dependant on its initial height of release.
Relevant physics
The parabolic motion of the projectiles flight can be broken into 2 motions. The
marble has a vertical motion (y direction) which is controlled by the force of
gravity and a horizontal direction (x directions]) which is its forward direction
controlled by where it is released from. What happens to the y-direction can be
determined separate from what happens in the x-direction. This is because both
are independent of each other as horizontal velocity has no effect on the vertical
velocity and vice-versa.
1 A property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or
uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external
force (Physicsclassroom.com, 2016).

The marble fell from a height of

h=ht hi

Due to the Law of Conservation Energy; Gravitational Potential Energy,

mg h

1
2
mv .
2

transfers to Kinetic Energy,

1
2
mgh= mv
2
Where h is the Independent variable ; launch heightv is the velocity of the marble
The Theoretical launch velocity can be found by rearranging the above

(v x )

v x = 2 g h
The vertical velocity
It is known that

( v y)

can also be found by rearranging

v y =0 at t=0

v x = 2 g h

on the table.

v y ( t )=
The

Range ( x ) =v x t= 2 g h t

The range carries from the time of flight after launch from the table. Therefore
the time of flight can be found from the equation:

1
H=H o g t 2 where H o is theheight the table the ground(0.72m)
2
At height,

y=0 , the marbles fall corresponds to the time of flight

1
0=H t a t 2
2
1
a t 2=H t
2

t=

2H
g

From these formulas it can be stated that

Range=v x t

2g H

2H
= 4 H h=2 H h
g

Hypothesis
Increasing the launch height of the marbles initial position will cause an increase
in the range of the projectiles motion. The relationship between the two variables
will show that range will be proportional to the launch height.

Variables
Independent: Launch height
Dependent: Distance travelled (from end of table)
Controlled:
-

Marble
Launching Ramp
Distance from the end of the ramp to the end of the table

Apparatus
-

1 marble
1m ruler
An ASMS marble- launching ramp
1 piece of cardboard paper
Sticky-tape
1 Retort stand and clamp
1 sheet of carbon paper

Assumption
Air resistance and friction from the surface of the ramp are negligible.

Procedure
1. All required apparatus were gathered and set up to form figure 1 below.
2. For initial set up, the ramp was measured to have a height of 46.3cm from
the top of the table. Therefore when placed on the ramp, the marbles
initial position was at 46.3cm.
3. From rest, the marble was released and landed at a distance of 75cm from
the edge of the table. The point the marble landed at was measured using
carbon paper.
4. Steps 2-3 were repeated 3 times for the launch height of 46.3cm.

5. Steps 2-3 were then repeated for 5 different launch heights and the results
were the recorded in an appropriate table.

Labelled diagram

Figure 1: Labelled Diagram of experimental setup (created by Jasmin Malhotra, ASMS)

Results
According to the Law of Conservation of energy, as energy cannot be created or
destroyed, as potential energy is being converted to kinetic energy, it can be
stated:

1
2
mg h= mv
2
Where :m=mass

g=9.8 ms2
h=height table the ground
v =velocity of each launch height

From the equation both masses (m) can be cancelled out

1
g h= v 2
2

The velocity can then be calculated:

v= 2 gh
v= 2 gh
1
h= g t 2
2
Therefore the time of flight can be calculated

t=

2H
g

Where H is the height from the table to the ground (0.72m)

t=

2 0.72
t=0.383 s
9.8

Therefore the expected time of flight for a height of 0.72m is 0.383s according to
the theory of gravitation.

Range=t 2 gh
As a given, the height from the first launch height was 46.3cm = 0.463m

v= 2 9.8 0.463
v=3.012 m s2

t=

2 0.463
9.8

t=0.307 s

Range=0.307 3.012
Range=0.924 m
The results from all of the launch heights can be seen below in table 2.
Table 2: Raw data collected during the practical

Launch

Distance travelled from

Raw data
Average

Calculated Range (m)

height
(m)

0.463
0.380
0.288
0.195
0.112

edge of the table (m)

Trial 1
0.75
0.729
0.726
0.600
0.47.1

Trial 2
0.768
0.765
0.697
0.605
0.472

Trial 3
0.768
0.739
0.709
0.606
0.460

distance
travelled
(measur
ed
range)
(m)
0.764
0.744
0.711
0.604
0.468

0.924
0.759
0.514
0.388
0.223

Launch Height vs the Distance travelled by the Marble

1
f(x) = 2.05x

0.8
0.6
Avergage Distance travelled by marble (m) 0.4
0.2
0
0

0.5

Launch Height (m)

Figure 2: Graph of the Launch height vs the distance travelled by the marble (true
range)

As seen from the figure 2, the data does not show a neat correlation between the
range and the launch height. Therefore from the plotted points it can be seen
that, as the Launch height increased, the range increased as suggested by the
hypothesis.
From the equation for the graph, the slope is equal to 2.0545. If this is not equal
to the calculated slope value, then friction has influenced the marbles fall.

Square root of the Launch Height vs the Range

1
0.8
0.6
Calculated Range (m) 0.4
0.2
0
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7
Sqaure root of the Launch Height (m)

Figure 3: Square root of each launch height plotted against the range travelled by the
marble

Figure 3 above shows that the square root of the Launch height is directly
proportional to the range

Launch Height of a Marble vs the Range

1
0.8
0.6
Rnage (m) 0.4
0.2
0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Launch height (m)

Figure 4: The Calculated Range vs the Launch height of the marble

Range vs the Launch Height of the Marble

1
0.8
0.6
Range (m) 0.4
0.2
0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Launch Height (m)

Figure 5: The Range squared plotted against the Launch height of the marble

Figure 5 above shows that the Launch height is directly proportional to the
range2.

Discussion
Before the marble is released from its initial position of rest, the energy
possessed by the marble is potential energy. Once the marble is released, its
potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. Potential energy is what the
marble possesses because of its initial position in the earths gravitational field.
When it is released or falls, the force of gravity will act on it until it strikes the
ground; the marbles potential energy is equal to its weight multiplied by the
distance it falls.
Kinetic energy is energy that the marble holds because it is in motion. The
kinetic energy of a body with m mass moving at a v velocity is one half of the
product of the mass of the body and the square of its velocity.

1
KE= m v 2
2
As the results were calculated within the environment of a high school classroom
on an ordinary school desktop table, the results seem to be quite precise and
close to each other. However errors have occurred as figure 2 above does not
show a linear trend. Possible errors that could have caused the graph to show
outliers could have been the measuring of the distance travelled. This is a
random error that would have changed the calculated range if it was off by a few
millimetres. This could have been affected by the metre ruler being placed in
different positions instead of staying constant as it should. To ensure consistency
in measuring the launch height, the metre ruler was used to measure the height
of each then placed back on the ground. It was ensure the metre ruler was to be

placed in the same position each time it was placed on the ground however it
cannot be confirmed that it was.
In figure 2, the slope of the graph was 2.0545. To calculate the slope, the formula

m=2 H

was used. This resulted in the calculated slope a 1.70. Therefore as

the slope 2.0545 is not equal to 1.70, then friction has influenced the marbles
fall. Therefore this is a major error that must be considered if repeating the same
experiment.
From the results, the distributions between the sets of multiple readings were all
within a few percent of each other

( 2 )

so most of the errors seemed to be

controlled. Compared to figure 3, figure 2 was much more precise. The precision
of the scatter graph in figure 2 is repeatable within 2%.
A systematic error that could have occurred was the smoothness of the track
(friction). The track was roughly cleaned before the practical was conducted,
however small particles may have been left and affected the way the marble
travelled down. This possible roughness could have slowed down the

vx

launch velocity, which would have affected the range observed.

Air resistance (friction) could have been another systematic error that could have
caused resistance in the marbles motion. Because of Air resistance, the path of
the marble may not have been parabolic. The projectile does not travel with a
constant horizontal velocity; it decelerates. With air resistance, the vertical
motion is under the combined influence of gravity and air friction. Both work
together on the way up, but work against each other on the way down. Gravity
works only downward, while air friction works against the direction of motion of
the marble. However to improve this air resistance is almost unavoidable and
other ways of improvement must be considered (Wagon, 2016).
A final systematic error similar to the reading of the distance on the ruler could
have been where the measurement was taken from. For an accurate
measurement to get as close as possible to the true value, the measurement
should have been taken from the centre of the marbles drop point to ruler. This
might have been incorrectly measured during the practical and could have
affected the results accuracy.
Accuracy and precision lie in the repeatability of the experiment and whether the
exact results would be achieved if this was repeated. During the experiment,
when changing the launch height, it was always tested before results were
recorded to see where the marble would land. The carbon paper would then be
placed according to the where the marble landed. Therefore the carbon paper
was not constant for all launch heights however it was consistent for trials within
each individual launch height.

Conclusion
From the data for the range; from the setup of releasing the ball from a certain
launch height, the range followed a rough trend. From the results, the hypothesis
was supported and therefore a larger launch height did result in a larger range of
the projectiles motion.

References
Physicsclassroom.com. (2016). Inertia and Mass. [online] Available at:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-1/Inertia-and-Mass
[Accessed 28 Jun. 2016].
Physicsclassroom.com. (2016). What is a Projectile?. [online] Available at:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-2/What-is-a-Projectile
[Accessed 23 Jun. 2016].
Wagon, J. (2016). The Effects of Air Friction on a Projectile. [online]
Regentsprep.org. Available at:
http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/physics/phys06/aairproj/default.htm
[Accessed 27 Jun. 2016].