Projectie Motion

Brief Description of the Lab:
In this lab we were given the task to find out what the true definition of a projectile is. To figure this out, we went down to the basketball courts and filmed the flight path of a basketball after it had been shot. We were able to find out the acceleration and velocity of the ball in the x and y dimensions.

Vy:

This graph gives us all of the information we need to find the y component of the basketball being thrown. The parabolic shaped graph (top graph) shows us the y position over time, ultimately giving us the value of the slope of the line which is velocity. When looking at the graph you can tell that the slope is not constant, meaning the velocity is also not constant which gives us the idea that the basketball is accelerating.

Vx:

This graph below shows us the x position over the period of time that was taken to record the basketball shot. The slope of this graph is represented by the change in position over the change of time. Unlike the Vy of the basketball, this is constant. THis means that there is no acceleration in the horizontal dimension and that it is constant. 

Photo of my group's whiteboard:

2-D Forces and Circular Motion

1)      To analyze forces in 2D one must find the magnitude (or size) of the x and y intercepts. The x and y intercepts, when in the second dimension, are called Force X and Force Y. In order to find the values of fx and fy you use sin, cos, and tan.

2)      Forces cause objects to move in a circle by pulling them in with a gravitational force. During our hover disc lab, we exerted a tension force (similar to the gravitational force of the earth on the moon), on the hover disc. We learned that the hover disc is being pulled into us but is also constantly accelerating, which enables it to move around us in a circle. A real life example of this would be the International Space Station and its orbit around Earth: Because the tangential velocity of the space station is so great, it does not matter whether or not the space station is in a constant free fall. The station never comes crashing down into the is because we simply keep missing it. There is no air resistance in space as well,  disabling space station's velocity from slowing down.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS_after_STS-124_06_2008.jpg

3)      To be in orbit means that a small object is in a constant circular motion around a much greater object. The larger object is exerting, or pulling,  a gravitational force on the smaller object, which is in a constant free fall (as we learned in the video).  Satellittes orbit Earth in the exact same way. Satellittes are in a constant free fall around the Earth- their velocity is so great that they constantly "miss" the Earth, just as planets do to the Sun.