MathematicsSLExploration:

Thejumpofasnowboard

Name:EwoutKessels
Studentnumber:0005120063
Topic:Projectilemotion
Teacher:EvaWatson
SchoolNumber:00512

Date:11/01/16
WordCount:1964

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

Tricksareafundamentalpartofsnowboardingapartfromlookingamazingifperformed
correctly,itisalsoashowofextremeskillandpractice,asitisimpossiblefora
snowboardertoinnatelyknowhowtoperformjumpsandslideswithoutanyknowledge
andexperienceontheperfectapproach.Incaseofjumpsespecially,itiscrucialtohave
insightwhetherajumpispossibleornot,asthingscouldgoseverelywrongwithone
singlemistake.Itisthereforeimportantforanysnowboarderattemptingjumpsto
approximatehowfasttheywouldneedtotraveltocompletethejumpsafelywithoutany
complications.Ofcourse,jumpsvaryinheightandsize,renderingmostsnowboarders
unabletoknowtheminimumvelocityrequiredtocompletethejump.Theonlyviable
optionistousethetoolofapproximation.Ofcourse,moreexperiencedsnowboarders
mightfindrelativeeaseinapproximatingthevelocitytheyneedtosuccessfullylanda
jump,yetbeginnersoftenstrugglewithfindingagoodspeedtoapproachajumpwith,
eithergoingtoslowortoofastcouldresultininjuries.Thisinvestigationistherefore
basedaroundmodellingthejumpofasnowboard.
Toconducttheinvestigation,avideoofasnowboarderjumpinghasbeenmade
atanindoorskiingpark.Thisisasthejumphasbeenconductedinacontrolled
environmenttoacquireanaccuraterepresentationofacommonsnowboardjump.The
videoofthesnowboarderjumpinghasbeenprocessedinLoggerProwiththetrajectory
ofthejumpshownbelow.Asreferencepoints,ameterrulerwasusedtomeasurethe
scaleofthevideo,andthefrontfootofthesnowboarderhasbeentracked,seenbythe
greenpointsonthepicture.

(Picture1:thetrajectoryofthesnowboardjump.)

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

Limitationsandassumptions
Toaddresssomeinitiallimitationstomyinvestigation,Ihavefirstlychosentoanalyze
thetrajectoryin2d,nottakingintoaccountanyanomalywiththedepthofthevideo.It
hasbeenestimatedthatthecameralocationwasatapproximately4metersfromthe
ramp..Secondly,theairresistanceshallbeignoredaswell,sinceitseffectonthedata
isclosetonegligible,thus,theinitialvelocitywillmostlybetakenintoaccountof.Lastly,
itshouldbementionedthattheindoorskislopeliesonahill.Thiseffectivelymeansthat
thevideowasshotalreadyatananglewhileontheslopeinordertoaccuratelyshow
theparabolicmovementofthesnowboard.Thiseffecthasbeencorrectbyshiftingthe
axestolineupwiththestructureofthebuildingtheskislopeislocated,seeninpicture
1.
Moreover,themoviewasshotin60framespersecond,yetLoggerprohasputaframe
limiterof29.97framespersecondonthemovie,makingcertaindatapointsunstable
whileprocessingthevideoanditsdatapoints.ThisismostnotableontheXvelocity
componentbelow.

(graph1:Xvelocityovertimegraph)

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

Graph1showstheinstabilityofthehorizontalcomponentofvelocity,whichshould
normallyshowalineartrendwithaconstantvelocity.Thisisas,theoreticallyspeaking,
anobjectmovingthroughairshouldnotincreaseitsvelocityinthehorizontaldirection.
Thisgraphhasbeencreatedaftertheaxeshavebeensettofitthenaturalslope.
Instead,thetrendinthisgraphshowsafrequentdipinanoverallincreasingslope.
Presumably,thiseffectoccursduetothereducedamountofframesnotbeingableto
processallofthemovementseeninthehdvideo,insteadcreatingframeswherethe
videodoesnotshowanymovement(inthefuturereferredtoasghostframes),even
thoughthetimeofthevideoprogresses.Inthisparticulartrial,theminimaseenofevery
negativeincreaseoftheyaxisshowsthedatapointthathasbeenmanuallyenteredon
everyghostframe.Inanattempttocorrectthisanomaly,theeveryghostframehas
beenstruckthrough,withtheresultinggraphshownbelow.

(graph2,Xvelocityovertimegraphwithghostframestruckthrough)

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

Graph2stillshowsatrendwherethehorizontalcomponentofvelocityincreasesasthe
timeinthevideoprogresses,despitetheghostframeshavingbeenignored.Although
stillinaccurate,itisbelievedthatthiseffectisstillpresentduetothesnowboarder
shiftingtheweightofthesnowboardclosertotheirbodyduringthetakeoffofthejump,
increasingthedensityofmassforthewholedurationofthejump,whichaffectsthe
magnitudeoftheaccelerationduetogravity,thusincreasingthexvelocitycomponent.

Calculations
Nowivedescribedthevariouslimitationsandassumptionsmade,themathematical
modelofthejumpcanbeconstructedbylookingatvariouscomponentsofthejump
time,componentsofvelocity,angleofelevation,initialvelocity,range.
Whileprocessingthevideo,Loggerproalreadycalculatedsomekeycomponents
neededinordertoconstructthemodel.

Frames

Time(s)

X(m)

Y(m)

XVelocity(m/s)

YVelocity(m/s)
2.228

0.926

0.0334

0.0757

0.0315

2.444

0.924

0.0667

0.1326

0.0492

3.167

1.142

0.1001

0.2730

0.1034

4.208

1.493

0.1335

0.4439

0.1614

4.437

1.511

0.1668

0.5841

0.2069

4.138

1.408

0.2002

0.7289

0.2610

3.567

1.131

0.2336

0.8160

0.2813

0.2669

0.9080

0.3102

3.973

0.935

10

0.3003

1.0750

0.3465

4.944

0.86

11

0.3337

1.2580

0.3825

5.346

0.385

12

0.3670

1.4450

0.3792

5.189

0.276

13

0.4004

1.6320

0.3498

4.284

0.583

14

0.4338

1.7280

0.3307

15

0.4671

1.8150

0.3205

4.328

0.968

16

0.5005

2.0100

0.2691

5.355

1.385

17

0.5339

2.2090

0.2134

5.405

1.426

18

0.5672

2.3740

0.1800

5.134

1.551

19

0.6006

2.5730

0.1025

4.279

1.485

0.901

0.635

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

20

0.634

2.664

0.07474

21

0.6673

2.742

0.03852

4.27

1.83

22

0.7007

2.941

0.04337

5.371

2.513

23

0.7341

3.14

0.134

5.513

3.093

24

0.7674

3.312

0.2459

5.52

3.749

25

0.8008

3.501

0.4017

5.569

4.268

1.326

(Table1:Valuesfor:time,X(m),Y(m),Xvelocity,YVelocity)

Fromthedataitisderivedthatthejumplastedforabout0.8seconds,andthat3.5
metershavebeentraversedinthisduration.Usingframebyframeanalysis,loggerpro
hasprocessedthisdataandcalculatedthe
v
forboththeXandYvectors.As
reference,anexamplecalculationfromthefirstframetothesecondframefor
vx
willbe
given.

Sx/t = vx

(0.0757)/(0.0334)=
0.0746m/0.0334s

0.0334 30 1s

1
0.0757x30=2.271ms

1
Theresultshowsasystematicerrorof0.200ms
duetothemanydecimalsthat
normallyexceedthenumbersshowninthetable.
Now,usingthedatafromthetableabove,thefirstthingthatshouldbecalculatedisthe
angleofelevation,asmanyothercomponentsrelyonit.Usingasimpletrigonometry,
dataforthefortheelevationinXandYcanbeusedtofindtheangleofelevation.We
canassumethattheangleofelevationstaysconsistentforthefirstquadrantofthe
jump,seenbygraph3.Thefollowingtrigonometricequationwillbeusedtofindthe
angleofelevationbetweenframes:12,13,14,15,16,inordertofindaconsistent
angle:

tan(i) = yx
i = arctan( yx )

frames

12

13

14

15

16

()
i

22.61

20.35

20.74

19.98

19.50

(Table2:Angleofelevationscomparingthefirstframestothe5followingframes)

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf


(Graph3:Y(m)overX(m)graphshowcasingthetrajectoryofthesnowboardjump)

ThevaluesshowninTable2areseentodecreaseforeveryframethethefirstframeis
comparedto,henceitisseenthatthetrajectoryimmediatelybeginstomoveina
parabolicmotion.Thus,themostaccurateangleshouldlieinbetweenthefirstandand
thesecondframe,asitshowstheinitialstagesofthejump.
Now,havingcalculatedanaccurateangleofelevation,theequationfortheinitial
velocityofthejumpcanbemodelledwithtwoequationsforeachinitialvelocityofX, vxi
andinitialvelocityofY, vyi .

vyi = visin(22.61)
fortheverticalcomponentof vy
vxi = vicos(22.61)
forthehorizontalcomponentof vx

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf


Tofindinitialvelocity,thesetwoequationscanberearrangedto:

xi
vi = cos(22.61)

and

yi
vi = sin(22.61)

Usingthefirstframevaluestofindof vyi
and vxi
respectively,theinitialvelocitycanbe
found.Resultsareshowninthefollowingtable:

vi
using vyi

vi using vxi

1
2.4085ms

1
2.4134ms

Thetworesultsgivenforinitialvelocitydifferbyafewdecimalpoints,andithasbeen
foundoutthisisduetovariousfactors.Mainly,theinstabilityoftheXvelocity
componentwhichwasaddressedpreviously.Nevertheless,bothvaluesareclose
enoughtocallthedifferencenegligible.Onemainconcernwiththesevalues,however,
isthatthesnowboardertraversed3.5metersin0.8second,meaningthattheinitial
velocityshouldhavebeen
vi > 3.5ms1 .
Thisismostlytheresultwhenthecalculation
wasdonewithvaluesofaghostframe.

Thismeanstheinitialvelocityshouldhavebeen
calculatedusingframevaluesinbetweenghostframes,butsincethesnowboardis
alreadyinairbythattime,theeffectofgravitynowcomesintoplayforthe vy
2
component.thegravitationalconstantonEarthequalsto,
g
=9.81ms
,meaningthat
everysecondtheverticalcomponentofvelocitychanges, vyi ,
by9.81m/s.When

integratedintoourpreviousmodelofinitialvelocity,theequationfor vyi
changesto:

vy = visin(22.61) gt ,
whereg=9.81

Rearrangedto:

vi =

vy
sin(22.61)

+ (9.81)(t)

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

Now,usingboththenewequationfortheverticalcomponentandthepreviousequation
forthehorizontalcomponentofvelocitywegettheanswers,wecancalculatetheinitial
velocitybylookingatthefourthframe:

vi
using vx

vi using vy

1
4.55ms

1
4.86ms

average
1
4.70ms

Thesevaluesarealotmoreaccurateandrealistic,renderingtheaverageofthesetwo
asanaccuraterepresentationoftheinitialvelocity.
Next,wecanusetheinitialvelocityandangleofelevationtomodelequationsfor
maximumheight,thedistancethesnowboardhastravelled.

Distance

Togetamoreaccurateideaofhowfarthesnowboardtravelsinitsparabolictrajectory,
wecanremodeltheequationspreviouslyusedtofindinitialvelocitytoincorporate
distancetravelled.
Itisknowninkinematicsthatifvelocityisintegrated,thedistancetravelledcanbe
[1]
found.
Soifweintegratethepreviousequationcorrelating vy
and vx
with vi
with
respecttotime,weseethat:

vi sin(22.61) gtdt = vi sin(22.61)t 12 gt2 = S y

vi cos(22.61)dt = vi cos(22.61)t = S x

S
showsthedistancethroughoutthesnowboardflightonthexaxis,whileS
showsthe
x
y
altitudeofthesnowboardatanygiventime.Toadjustthisequationtoourcurrentmodel
weget:

(4.70)cos(22.61)t = S x

and

vi(4.70)(22.61)t 12 (9.81)t2 = S y

Maximumheight
[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf


Followingtheequationforthedistanceinydirection,itisknownthatthemaximum
heightthesnowboardachievediswhentheverticalvelocityisequalto0.Themaximum
pointofthevertexisyetunknownduetotheinconsistencyoftheframerate,thisis
seeningraph3below.Yetifwesetthederivativeoftheequationforinitialvelocityin
theyaxisto0inrespecttotime,wecanfindwhentheslopeoftheparabolaisparallel
[2]
tothexaxis
,meaningwehavefoundthemaximumheight.

dy
dt

= (4.70)sin(22.61) gt = 0

orrearranged

t=

(4.70)sin(22.61)
g

(Picture2:Y(m)overtime(s)graph)

Asalaststep,theequationfortimetakencanbeincorporatedintheequationfor
distancefortheycomponent,adjustingittoaltitudeinordertofindmaximumheight
changingthemodelto:
[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf

ymax

(4.70)sin(22.61)( (4.70)sin(22.61)
)
9.81

12 (9.81)( (4.70)sin(22.61)
)2
9.81

Thisequationcanbesimplifiedto:

ymax =

((4.70)sin(22.61))2
2(9.81)

Alternatively,onecoulddirectlyusethemodelforthetimetakentoreachmaximum
heightandusethe
t
valueandsubstitutethisdirectlyintotheequationforaltitude,S
.
y
Now,thetheoreticalvalueformaximumheightreachedwouldbeapproximately0.166m
after0.17seconds,thoughthisclearlynotthecase,asseenintable1,wherethe
maximumheightreachedexceededaround0.3825matthe11thframebeforepassing
thevertexatthe12thframe.Thenhowisthispossible?Well,ifthesnowboarderinthe
videoweretobeaninanimateobject,themaximumheightreachedwouldindeedbe
0.166mafter0.17seconds,thoughthisisobviouslynotthecase.Instead,itisseen
duringthevideo,thatthesnowboarderpullsuphisfeetasareflextobracehimselffor
theland,seeninthefollowingtwoframes.Thiscausesthetrajectorytochange,asthe
massofthesnowboarderoutweighsthemassofthesnowboard,resultinginthe
snowboardgettingpulledtowardstherider.Thiseffectrendersalargepartofthe
graphsprocessedthroughLoggerProillegitimate,astheydonotrepresentacomplete
parabolictrajectory.

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf


(frames6and9:showcasingthesnowboardingretractinghisfeet,causingthetrajectorytoshiftasthe
densityofmassbecomeshigher)

Toconclude,themodelcreatedforthemovementofthesnowboardthroughouttheair
isoverallaccuratefortheoreticalcasesonly.Itisduetothevariousfactorssuchasthe
limitingframespersecondofthevideo,andthemovementofthesnowboarderintheair
itselfwhichrenderthemodelunabletocompletelyandflawlesslyrepresentthefull
movement.However,itshouldbestatedthatthetrendseenonthegraphsdoesshowa
closerepresentationofaparabola.Forfurtherinvestigationismightbeusefultosee
howthemassofthesnowboarderexactlyaffectsthetrajectory,andhowanevenmore
accuratemodelcouldbecreatedtofitcertainjumps.Perhapsusingthemasstofind
howthepotentialenergyofthesnowboardervariesthroughoutthejumpcouldhelpfind
amoreaccurateideaofhowthesnowboardershiftedhismassbybringingthe
snowboardclosertohisbody.

Bibliography:

[1]"WarMathsProjectileMotion."
IBMathsResourcesfromBritishInternational
SchoolPhuket
.N.p.,10Nov.2013.Web.10Jan.2016.
[2]"13.2ModelingProjectileMotion."13.2(2011):n.pag.
Delmar.edu
.DelMarCollege.
Web.10Jan.2016.

[1]
http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/11/10/warmathsprojectilemotion/
[2]
http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/math/pjohnson/Webpage/calculusIII/notes/13.2.pdf