Lake Travis High School

Principles of Engineering 3A

Ballistic Device Lab Write Up

Performed By:
Name(s) : Michelle Balconi-Lamica
Drew Conyers
Luke Gayler
Dhruv Rawal

Date Performed: April 7th, 2017

Date Due: April 7th, 2017
Date Submitted: April 7th, 2017
 Grade_________

Instructor: Dr.Kimberly Reid

CONTENTS

1. Introduction:
Projectile motion: description of kinematics, formulas used in this lab, and purpose of the lab
2. Build Documentation:
Description of our design, including an image of the final design
3. Data:
Data from our lab testing at firing angles relative to the horizon: 10, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70,
80 (if possible) degrees.
4. Analysis:
Statistical analysis of the central tendencies for each given firing angle (mean, median, mode),
including a frequency table and graph of horizontal distances and firing angle.
5. Results:
Conclusions about the distance our device fired vs. firing angle
Introduction:

I. Projectile Motion:
Kinematics is the study of the motion of objects and takes into account speed, or the rate of
travel, velocity (speed and direction), and acceleration, or change in velocity over time. When
calculating kinematics, one must take into account gravitational acceleration and the firing angle
as well as the initial velocity.

II. Formulas:

III. Purpose:
The purpose of the lab is to understand the effect of firing angles on the distance at which
a projectile is launched to. The lab also allows us to use a real-world example to calculate
how far it will go by using formulas.

Build Documentation: Our design utilizes VEX components and has evolved from initially
being a big and bulky machine to more compact and efficient with the ability to drive much like
a tank. The launching arm was initially unstable and unreliable, however we altered the arms
materials in order to stabilise the arm for more reliability. The design in addition incorporates the
VEXNet system to function without any digital or analog input on the device itself.
 Data:

Firing Angles (Relative 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

to Horizon)

Distances (ft) 10 12 17 21 20 18 16 12

9 11 18 22 21 15 12 11

11 13 19 22 20 12 14 10

8 9 12 18 16 12 13 11

10 13 15 25 19 15 12 9

11 12 15 16 18 17 16 12

8 11 14 18 23 11 10 9

12 13 17 20 21 16 12 8

11 12 15 19 20 12 9 8

13 11 14 18 17 17 12 11

Analysis: The data shows the launch being at 40-50 degrees as the maximum efficiency. The
data shows a standard deviation curve from the rest of the data.

Central Tendencies Calculation Answer

Mean 1142/80 14.275

Median Middle in Data 14

Mode Most in Data 12

 I. Graph:

Results:
From the lab conducted the firing of the ballistic device at 40-50 degrees produces the
maximum distance for the ping pong ball to be launched around 20.5 on average. The devices
data shows a bell curve of data to which the lower the angle and the higher the angle to
shorter the distance the ping pong ball will be launched. The device functions as predicted
and the data shows the maximum distance the device can launch is 23 feet.
Documentation: