Battle Ship Lab

Zak Spryszak and Shukri Khader

Abstract
While doing the battleship lab we were required to play
battleship using a small cannon and cannonballs and had to
shoot the cannonballs into squares and sink the opposing
teamsships.Wehadtousemeasurementswehadcalculated
and measured beforehand to shoot down the ships but were
only allowed to use angles we found previously. We used
numerousformulastofindthedistanceitwouldtravelusing
onlytheinitialvelocityanddistancetraveledat0degreesin
theXandY.Usingthesemeasurementswefoundouthowfar
thecannonballwouldtravelatcertainangles.Wecalculated
theseanglesandhowfartheywouldgoandusedtheseinour
game. In the game we had to launch a marble to shoot
squares that we hoped the ship was in. Our data was a
success because the marble was shot at the distance we
calculateditwouldbeforewestartedthegame.

Objectives
Tostartthislabourgrouphadtofindthedistancethatthe
marblelauncher,orcanon,wouldshootdependingonthe
angleoftheshot.First,wefoundtheaveragedistanceit
wouldtakeforthemarblelaunchertoshootwithazero
degreeangle.Wetesteditout3timesandtheaverage
cameouttobe1.04meters.Weusedthe1.04metersas
theXvalueand.25astheYvaluebecausethelauncher
shotfrom.25metersofftheground.Wealsoknewthat
accelerationwouldequal-9.81meterspersecond^2inthe
Y,and0meterspersecond^2intheX.Thentheinitial
velocitywouldbe0meterspersecondintheYdirection.
Withthisinformationwecanfindthetimebyusingthe
equation(delta)Y=1/2at^2+V(initial)(T)afterpluggingin
thevaluesthecorrectwayyouwillfindyourtimetobe.
22seconds.Nowthatyouknowthisnumberyoucanplug
itintothesameequationexceptnowfor(delta)Xandyou
willfindtheVoXtobe4.7m/s.
Nowthatyouhaveallofthevaluesyouneedtofindthe
(delta)Xoftheangleyouareshootingfromyoucanstart
tosolve.Youstartwiththeoriginalequationfor(delta)Y
andpluginallofthevalues.Youwillendupwithan
answerthatwillneedtobeplacedinthequadraticformula
afterthequadraticformulayouwillgetatimeandthe
timewillbe.44secondsfortheangledegreeof 20.

Methods
Tostartthislabourgrouphadtofindthedistancethatthemarblelauncher,
orcanon,wouldshootdependingontheangleoftheshot.First,wefound
theaveragedistanceitwouldtakeforthemarblelaunchertoshootwitha
zerodegreeangle.Wetesteditout3timesandtheaveragecameouttobe
1.04meters.Weusedthe1.04metersastheXvalueand.25astheY
valuebecausethelaunchershotfrom.25metersofftheground.Wealso
knewthataccelerationwouldequal-9.81meterspersecond^2intheY,
and0meterspersecond^2intheX.Thentheinitialvelocitywouldbe0
meterspersecondintheYdirection.Withthisinformationwecanfind
thetimebyusingtheequation(delta)Y=1/2at^2+V(initial)(T)after
plugginginthevaluesthecorrectwayyouwillfindyourtimetobe.22
seconds.Nowthatyouknowthisnumberyoucanplugitintothesame
equationexceptnowfor(delta)XandyouwillfindtheVoXtobe4.7m/s.
Nowthatyouhaveallofthevaluesyouneedtofindthe(delta)Xofthe
angleyouareshootingfromyoucanstarttosolve.Youstartwiththe
originalequationfor(delta)Yandpluginallofthevalues.Youwillend
upwithananswerthatwillneedtobeplacedinthequadraticformula
afterthequadraticformulayouwillgetatimeandthetimewillbe.44
secondsfortheangledegreeof20.Oncethistimeisfiguredoutyou
againchangetheequationbackto(delta)Xandplugitinagain.Sincethe
accelerationis0m/s^2thefirstpartoftheequationiscancelledoursoit
willjustbe(4.41)(.44)andyougetafinallaunchingdistanceof1.92
metersat20degrees.Thelaststepistofindanotheranglemeasureyou
willdoallofthesamestepsasbefore.FirstfindtheVoXwiththe
originalequationandthiswillgiveyouanamountaround4.35m/s.Then
youplugitintothe(delta)Yequationandusethequadraticformulaagain
andget.44seconds.Atlastyouplugitintothe(delta)Xequationandset
thefirstpartequalto0soyouwouldmultiply(4.35)(.44)andgetafinal
answerof1.94metersfortheangleof22degrees.
Thenofcourseyouhaveacompetitionforextracredit.Teamswillfaceoff
byshootingamarbleatsquaresandtrytohittheotherteamsbattleships.
Whicheverteamhitsthebattleshipsthemostorsinkstheotherteams
winsandeitheradvancestothenextroundorwinsextracreditdepending
onhowmanyteamsthereareoriftheyarealreadyinthechampionship.

Conclusions

Results
USINGTHESEMEASUREMENTSWE
COLLECTEDWEFOUNDTHECHANGE
INXANDUSEDTHATTOCALCULATE
THEDIFFERENCESWITHTHECHANGE
INANGLES.THECHANGEINXWAS
USEDTOFINDTHETIMEANDINITIAL
VELOCITY.THEINITIALVELOCITY
STAYEDTHESAMEINALLOFTHE
PROBLEMSANDSOWEUSEDTHAT
ALONGWITHACCELERATIONAND
CHANGEINYTOFINDTHETIMEAND
CHANGEINXFORALLTHEANGLES.

Trials (0
Degrees)

Ourgroupdiscoveredthattheequationsweuseevery
dayinclassalwaysworkwhenusedoutsideofproblems
onpaper.Itsamazinghowonelittlepieceofdatacanbe
usedtofinddataforanentirelab.Thesetypesof
calculationscanbeusedforallsortsoflifesituations
suchasifyouwanttoshootsomethingoutofacannon
forsomereasonandneedtoseethedistanceitwouldgo.
Thislabalsogaveusmorepracticeusingtheequations
welearnedandthequadraticformulathateveryone
struggleswith.Thiskindofresearchcouldbeusedfora
lotofmilitaryscenariossuchasshootinggunsorgunson
tanks.

Distance
(Meters)

Marble Launcher
1

1.05

1.02

Average

1.04

Battle Ship
Marble