Projectile Motion Vector Lab

Instructions

Fire the cannon and turn on the vectors. Watch which part of the velocity changes during the flight, and which part never does.

  1. Set the launch conditions and choose which vectors to display.
  2. Launch the projectile and compare horizontal and vertical velocity as it moves.
  3. Use snapshots and the components graph to explain the motion. Use Print lab to save your observations.

Share this activity

Share a fresh activity. Your answers and experiment data are not included.

Email

2. Fire and watch the vectors

The flight

Show on the ball
Cannon and ball

Time
Across, x
Height, y
Speed, |v|
vx
vy
Acceleration
Direction

3. Read the graph

Velocity components versus time

The graph draws itself during the flight. A flat line means a component that does not change; the slope of the vy line is the acceleration.

Flight results

Time in the air
Highest point
Distance across (range)
Landing velocity

4. Check your thinking

Test each idea with the vectors

5. Make sense of it

Why does only one component change?

Turn on the components, the acceleration and the snapshots, then launch with Pause at the top.

What happens to vx and to vy during the flight? Which way does the acceleration point, and how does that explain what each component does?

Your response stays in this tab. Print to keep a copy.