Shoot for your grade

Talon Hansen

Physics Dept. at the Academy for Math, Engineering and science.

October 7th 2016

Abstract: The lab is to literally shoot for your grade using a ramp and a
marble to hit the target spot on the 50. The basic result was we didnt hit it
in the middle, but we were very close in doing so.
Introduction: The objective is to predict the landing spot of a projectile
(Marble) launched horizontally from an elevated platform (Ramp). You must
calculate the time the marble takes for the marble to cross the last 10 cm of
the ramp but without letting the marble touch the floor when coming off the
ramp without another force acting upon it or you will have to start over and
then you must measure the height of the table. After that you must do all of
the math necessary to accurately calculate where the ball will land on the 50
mark of the target.

Theory: There are two equations used to help figure out where the ball is
going to land:
Xf= xi + Vix t + 1/2ax t^2
Yf= yi + Viy t + 1/2ay t^2
And also a small but important par D/T
Those were the biggest part in what was needed to obtain the final results.
After you have the equations, you need to figure out what numbers go into
what parts of the equation and then start solving the equation. You need to
find the initial velocity of the ball. The final result will be where the marble
hits the floor.

Experimental details. All you have to do to set up the equipment and do the
experiment itself is to make sure you have all the necessary items, a ramp
and something to clamp and hold the ramp, a ball, stopwatch, meter stick,
and tape. The ramp of course to roll the marble down, the stopwatch to
calculate the time it takes for the ball to cross the last 10 cm of the ramp,
the meter stick to measure the last 10 cm of the ramp and to accurately find
where to place the tape after you find the result. So all you have to do to do
the experiment is roll the ball down the ramp and see where it hits.
Discussion: So in light, we used the equation and plugged everything in right,
but it is possible that some of our number were off just enough to not hit that
50 mark exactly. Also maybe our measurements would also be al little off as
well, all of those combines could make that little bit of a difference just to not
get the 50, however it was still very good and better then what I was actually
expecting. I learned that maybe we should check our number and
measurements to see if they are as accurate as we can get them, to make
sure if we did it again that we would successfully hit the 50.
Conclusions; Basically it was not even close too easy, in any way shape or
form, the first time we started we highly struggled with the math, however
used our problem solving skills, team work, and eventually figured it out and
it worked pretty well, and apparently thats all it took to solve this, good old
team work, definitely couldnt do it alone, it also helped to better understand
how to solve problems like this one and get an accurate answer so it was
definitely helpful in that way ass well.