Anish Bhattacharya

S.R. 14619
PROJECTILE MOTION

Particle moving through a viscous medium

The motion of a particle in a vertical plane in the presence of gravity in the
presence of a viscous medium like air is observed and studied.

THEORY

In the absence of air drag, the particle only experiences gravity which
points downward in the plane of motion. If the particle is light enough (like
ours because we used polystyrene), buoyant force becomes prominent too.
But nothing much changes because both the forces are in the vertical
direction. The normal gravitational acceleration is replaced by an effective
one. The trajectory of the particle is then a parabola, which can be shown
by writing the equations of motion in the horizontal and vertical direction.

Suppose the coefficient of viscosity of the medium is , and the particle is a

sphere of radius r and has an instantaneous speed v, then the air drag on
the sphere is given by Stokes law

= 6

Note that Stokes law only holds true when the flow of the medium is
laminar, not turbulent. The degree of turbulence of a flow is given using the
Reynolds number

= /

High Reynolds number values, like more than three thousand means that
the flow is turbulent.

All the above cases are when the sphere is not spinning. If it does, then
Magnus Effect comes to play. We neglect spin for this experiment.

GRAPHS AND CALCULATIONS

This was the graph (the one on the left) that was obtained from the
experiment. The error in the parabola is due to air drag and spin. Since the
drag force points opposite to the direction of instantaneous velocity, the
trajectory is like a parabola shifted towards the left.

Image Credits:
https://www.wired.com/2012/01/projectile-motion-primer-for-first-robotics/

The theoretical mathematical model says that,

To solve for the function x(t), we can consider Fx and vx.
= 6
= 6
6
Let = .

=

Upon integration we get,
1
= (+) +

Where q and r are the constants determined by initial conditions. We use
this function to fit the experimental plot.
On fitting the curve, the values obtained for the constants p, q, r are (in SI
units):
= 2.048176
= 5.807471
= 6.373775
Also,
= 0.005705
= 0.04
Thus, we obtain the coefficient of viscosity to be
= 0.0155
But the viscosity of air is of the order of 10-5 Pas. The error is not due to any
experimental problem, but its because the air flow is turbulent and Stokes
law doesnt hold true. (Reynolds number is of the order of 105) The
general drag equation where force varies with velocity squared holds true
in such situations.
HEIGHT(h) RANGE(R)
1.11 m 1.85 m
1.03 m 1.79 m
0.90 m 1.68 m

From these data,

 log() = 0.441 log() +
Hence,
0.441
Under the limits of experimental error, it is close to the expected
theoretical value of 0.5.
MY QUESTION
How do I analyse the motion if I take into account the spin on the ball? Also,
since the general drag equation contains the drag coefficient which is
related to the Reynolds number in some way which I cant figure out. How
do you quantify that?