Projectile Motion

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS IN
PHYSICS (1)

STUDENT LAB REPORT

Name: Melissa Álvarez Urrego ID: 1000205200

Partner’s name:

1) Name: Brahian David Arana Romero ID: 1121944260

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 Part (1):

Objective: To show that the time of flight of a horizontal projectile is independent of its initial speed.

Procedures:

1- Open the following link (from PHET Simulation):

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/projectile-motion/latest/projectile-motion_en.html

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2- Set the height at 15 m, or any value between (10 -15) m.
3- Adjust the angle of the launcher θ at zero degree.
4- Set the velocity of the projectile at 2 m/s and fire the ball then measure the timer of flight (T) at the point
where the ball hits the ground.
5- Repeat the previous step for four different values of velocity as shown in table 1 and measure the
corresponding time (T).
6- Report your data in Table (1).

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 Table (1)

V (m/s) Time of flight (T) s

2 1.75 s

Image 1: Velocity 2 m/s.

V (m/s) Time of flight (T) s

4 1.75 s

Image 2: Velocity 4 m/s.

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 V (m/s) Time of flight (T) s

6 1.75 s

Image 3: Velocity 6 m/s.

V (m/s) Time of flight (T) s

8 1.75 s

Image 4: Velocity 8 m/s.

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 V (m/s) Time of flight (T) s

10 1.75 s

Image 5: Velocity 10 m/s.

7- what are your observations from table 1?
R//= I note that no matter the speed at which the projectile travels, if the angle at which it is launched is equal
to zero (0), the flight time will be the same.

Image 6: Flight time calculation.

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8- Does the air resistance change the range, how?
R//= Yes, air resistance changes the range causing the range to decrease as the initial velocity increases.
Part (2):

Objective: To verify that the horizontal component of the velocity (v x) of the projectile is constant during its
motion.

Procedures:
1- Open the same link:
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/projectile-motion/latest/projectile-motion_en.html

2- Set the height at zero level, H=0 m as shown:

3- Adjust the launcher at θ = 30o.

4- Set the initial velocity of the projectile vo at 15m/s. (you are free to select the initial velocity)
5- Fix the height (H), initial velocity (vo) and the angle (θ) at the above values and don’t change them during this
part.
6- Measure the time of flight for different horizontal distances as shown in the Table 2.

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 Table (2)

Distance X Time of flight Horizontal velocity of the

(m) (T) s projectile vx= X/T
19.86 m 0.76 s 26.13 m/s

Image 7 and 8: Velocity 15 m/s.

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 Distance X (m) Time of flight (T) s Horizontal velocity of the projectile
vx= X/T
25.51 m 0.87 s 29.32 m/s

Image 9 and 10: Velocity 17 m/s.

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 Distance X (m) Time of flight (T) s Horizontal velocity of the projectile
vx= X/T
31.87 m 0.97 s 32.85 m/s

Image 11 and 12: Velocity 19 m/s.

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Distance X (m) Time of flight (T) s Horizontal velocity of the projectile
vx= X/T
38.93 m 1.07 s 36.38 m/s

Image 13 and 14: Velocity 21 m/s.

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 Distance X (m) Time of flight (T) s Horizontal velocity of the projectile
vx= X/T
46.7 m 1.17 s 39.91 m/s

Image 15 and 16: Velocity 23 m/s.

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 Distance X (m) Time of flight (T) s Horizontal velocity of the projectile
vx= X/T
55.17 m 1.27 s 43.44 m/s

Image 17 and 18: Velocity 25 m/s.

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7- What are your observations from Table (2).

R//=
1. As the initial velocity increases, the time of flight increases and the horizontal distance the projectile
reaches also increases.
2. The horizontal velocity of the projectile during the distance traveled is greater than the initial velocity.

8- Calculate the acceleration of the ball just before it hits the ground.

Acceleration: The only acceleration that exists in this type of movement is in the vertical direction, which
means the acceleration of gravity, therefore the acceleration of the ball before falling is 9.8 m/𝑠 2 .

9- What’s the relationship between the range and air resistance?

R//= The relationship between range and air resistance is inverse. This means that as the air resistance
increases, the range of the object decreases.

So, at low speeds, air resistance is generally low, allowing the object to travel greater distances.

Part (3):

Objective: i- To study the relationship between the angle of the projectile and its angle.
ii- To find the acceleration of gravity gexp

Procedures:
1- Open the same link:
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/projectile-motion/latest/projectile-motion_en.html

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2- Click on Lab
3- Leave the settings to the right of the screen as they are.
4- Set the initial speed at 15 m/s
o
5- Adjust the launcher at 20

6- Click on the red button below and release the

projectile
7- Move the red circle horizontally toward the projectile target and measure the range R
8- Record the angle (θ) and the range (R) in table 3 in your lab report
9- Repeat steps 6-8 for the angles (30o, 40o, 50o, 60o, 70o, 80o)
10- Calculate sin (2θ) and record that in Table 3
11- Draw the range (R) versus the angle (θ) using Excel (Hint: this relation is not linear)
12- Draw the range (R) versus sin (2θ) using Excel, then find the slope of the line

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 Table (3)

vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
25 0.64 17.6 m

Image 19: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 25°.

vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
30 0.86 19.9 m

Image 20: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 30°.

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 vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
40 0.98 22.6 m

Image 21: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 40°.

vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
50 0.98 22.6 m

Image 21: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 50°.

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 vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
60 0.86 19.9 m

Image 22: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 60°.

vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
70 0.64 14.8 m

Image 23: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 70°.

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 vo= 15 m/s
θo Sin (2θ) R (m)
80 0.34 7.9 m

Image 24: Velocity 15 m/s and Launcher at 80°.

13- Post the graphs

R//=
Image 25: Graph R-sin2θ.

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 Image 26: Graph R-θ.
14- From the graph of (R-sin2θ), calculate:

0.34−0.64
Slope= 𝑚= = 0.03
7.9−17.9
Note: Professor, we didn't really understand what these abbreviations refer to (gexp and 𝛿𝑔 %), nor do we
remember having heard it in class, so in the notebook we have no information about it, and in the book, it is not
in the book either. In this part we really "nos pifiamos".

gexp=

𝛿𝑔 % =

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Questions:

1- Depending on part (3), What angle produces the biggest range? why.
R//= The angle that produces the greatest range is the angle at 40° and 50°. Because the slope they have
are not very high. And they have less air resistance.

2- What changes would occur to the time if we neglected the air resistance?

R//= If we neglected air resistance, objects would accelerate faster when subjected to an external force.
For example, if an object is pushed, it would accelerate faster without the opposing force of air
resistance slowing it down.

3- What changes would occur to the range of the projectile if air resistance were to be neglected?

R//= If air resistance were to be neglected, the projectiles could travel longer distances before coming to
a stop. Without air resistance to gradually reduce their speed, they would maintain their velocity over
longer distances.

4- In a projectile motion the velocity

a) is always perpendicular to the acceleration.
b) is never perpendicular to the acceleration.
c) is perpendicular to the acceleration for one instant only.
d) is perpendicular to the acceleration for two instants

5- Identify the correct statement related to the projectile motion.

a) It is uniformly accelerated everywhere
b) It is uniformly accelerated everywhere except at the highest position where it is moving with constant
velocity
c) Acceleration is never perpendicular to velocity
d) None of the above

6- The trajectory of a projectile is a

a) Parabola
b) Circle
c) Straight line
d) Ellipse

7- The .......... of motion changes during the motion of a projectile.

a) direction
b) velocity
c) direction of velocity
d) All the above

8- When air resistance is considered while dealing with the motion of the projectile which of the following
properties of the projectile, shows an increase?
a) range
b) maximum height
c) speed at which it strikes the ground
d) the angle at which the projectile will strike the ground.

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