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Chalk Ahoy info

In physics class, you have probably rolled your eyes at some point after being assigned a
"projectile motion" homework problem where you use equations to predict how a ball will
move through the air. This experiment will show you just how fun that problem can be by
using a real catapult to launch a ball and videotaping it as it flies along its path. Then, you will
analyze the video and compare it to what the equations predicted. If you have ever wondered
if those equations in your physics textbook are actually worth the paper they're printed on, this
is your chance to find out.

Use projectile motion equations to predict the path of a ball launched through the air, then compare
that path to the actual trajectory filmed during experiments.

You have probably seen figures in your physics textbook that show a catapult launching a projectile
and then equations that calculate the resulting trajectory. Well, it is a lot more fun if you actually get to
use a catapult instead of just doing the calculations! In this science project, you will use a catapult to
launch ping-pong balls and use a video camera to film their trajectory, or path, as they fly through the
air. You can also use physics to predict the trajectory of the ball, and then compare this predicted
trajectory to the one you measure from video recordings. If the results match, you can conclude that
your predictions and the assumptions you used to make them were valid under the circumstances of
the test. If they don't match exactly, that's OK. There are many real-world factors that can be difficult
to account for in predictions. Part of the scientific process involves figuring out what those factors are
so you can make better predictions next time.

Predicting the trajectory of a ball launched from the catapult requires an understanding of two
fundamental physics concepts: projectile motion and conservation of energy.

Projectile Motion

Projectile motion refers to the method used for calculating the trajectory of a projectile (which can be
pretty much any physical object — a rock, a ball, etc.) as it moves through the air.

Technical Note:

You may hear "projectile motion" used interchangeably with the word kinematics, depending on the
textbook, website, or teacher. Kinematics (the study of motion) broadly includes things like pulleys,
linkages, and gears. For this project, we are only concerned with projectiles.

Understanding projectile motion requires an understanding of position (the location of the ball, or
projectile), velocity (how fast the ball is moving), and acceleration (how fast the velocity changes). A
more advanced understanding of projectile motion involves calculus and factors like air resistance.
For this project we will use simplified constant acceleration equations. These equations rely on the
assumption that we can ignore air resistance — otherwise, the acceleration would change over time,
and not be constant. (Note: Hover over the equations in this Introduction with your cursor to view
enlarged formulas.) The four equations are:

Equation 1:

df=di+vit+12at2

Equation 2:

vf=vi+at

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Equation 3:

v2f=v2i+2a(df−di)

Equation 4:

df=di+12(vf+vi)t

In these equations, the subscripts i and f stand for initial and final, respectively. The variables d, v,
and a stand for distance, usually expressed in meters (m); velocity, usually expressed in meters per
second (m/s); and acceleration, usually expressed in meters per second squared (m/s²). The
variable t stands for elapsed time, usually expressed in seconds (s).

Given certain information about an object at one time, these equations let you calculate what is
happening at another time. For example, if you are running at an initial velocity of 3 m/s and
accelerating at a rate of 1 m/s², you can use Equation 2 to calculate that your final velocity will be 5
m/s after a time (t = 2) seconds passed by:

vf=3ms+1ms2⋅2s=5ms

However, these equations are only for one dimension, and the catapult-launched ball in this
experiment is going to be moving in two dimensions — x and y. Fortunately, we can take the same
set of equations and apply them to the x and y directions independently — motion in the "y" direction
does not affect motion on the "x" direction, and vice versa. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the setup for
this experiment.

Figure 1. This graphic shows a typical setup for a projectile motion problem. A projectile at
height h above the ground (y=0) is launched with an initial velocity v0 at an angle θ with respect to the
horizontal (the x-axis). Gravity (g) is in the negative y direction.

We want to calculate the position of the ball at any time, t. Thus we need equations for both x and y
as functions of t. We will call these x(t) and y(t). Let us start with a new Equation 5 (using Equation 1),
renaming the variables to be consistent with the x direction:

Equation 5:

x(t)=x0+vx,0t+12axt2

Two things here can immediately make this equation easier to work with: we can assume that the
initial x position is just zero, so x0=0. We also know that there is no acceleration in the x direction,
because we are ignoring air resistance, and gravity certainly does not act sideways, so ax=0. Now,
Equation 5 reduces to:

Equation 6:

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x(t)=vx,0t

But we were only giving the initial velocity of the ball, v0 , not the initial velocity in the x-direction, vx,0 .
However, we know the launch angle, θ. So, we can use trigonometry to calculate the initial x velocity:

Equation 7:

vx,0=v0cos(θ)

Plug that into Equation 6, and we have our final equation for x as a function of time:

Equation 8:

x(t)=v0cos(θ)t

That is only half of the problem, though. We need to do the same thing for the y direction. Let us take
Equation 1 again, this time substituting the appropriate y variables:

Equation 9:

y(t)=y0+vy,0t+12ayt2

In this case, we cannot make any variables zero. We know from Figure 1 that the ball is launched
from an initial height of h and that we have a downward (and therefore negative) acceleration of
gravity, g. We can also calculate the initial velocity in the y direction, similar to what we did for the x
direction in Equation 8, but this time using sine instead of cosine. Equation 9 thus becomes:

Equation 10:

y(t)=h+v0sin(θ)t−12gt2

Now we can use Equations 8 and 10 to plot the motion of a projectile in the (x,y) plane.

Experimental Procedure
Physical Constants

Before starting your experiments, you will need to measure or calculate several physical constants
necessary for your theoretical results. You will need:

 The mass of the ping pong ball, m

 The radius from the center of rotation to the center of the ping pong ball, r
 The length of the launch arm, L
 The moment of inertia of the launch arm, I
 The unstretched length of a rubber band, x0
 The spring coefficient of a rubber band, k. (We use the word "coefficient" instead of "constant"
since the rubber bands are nonlinear springs).

Theoretical Predictions

1. Select a launch angle, pull-back angle, and number of rubber bands that you would like to
test.
a. Using Equations 8 and 10 from the Introduction, fill out a table or spreadsheet of the
expected position of the ball at different times (remember that first you will have to

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use Equation 16 to calculate the launch velocity). We recommend starting at time t=0
and going up to t=1 second (the ball is usually in the air for less than a second, so
this should give you more than enough theoretical data), in intervals of 1/30th of a
second (this will correspond to the frame rate of most video cameras).
b. This will be easiest with a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel®.
c. You can add your experimental results to this spreadsheet later, to make it easier to
compare the two, as in Table 1.

Theoretical Experimental

Time x y x y
(seconds) (meters) (meters) (meters) (meters)

0.000

0.033

0.067

0.100

0.133

0.167

0.200

Filming the Ball

1. Watch this video to learn how to set up your catapult:

Video instructions for using your ping pong catapult.

2. Next you will need to find an open, well-lit area to film a launch, using the same catapult
settings you just used for your theoretical predictions. Make sure your camera is far enough
away that you can see the catapult itself, and that the ball does not go off-screen before it hits
the ground. If you can adjust settings on your camera, like the exposure time or frame rate,
you may need to take several videos to find the best settings. Your goal is to be able to
clearly see the location of the ball in each frame, without blurring. Important: You will need an
object with a known length (such as a ruler) in the video for scale. This will enable you to
convert the distance you measure on your computer screen to real-world distance.
3. Also remember to measure and record the length of the rubber band when the launch arm is
pulled back to your desired pull-back angle, and at launch (when the arm is all the way up
against the rubber stopper). Remember that you need to measure the total length of the
rubber band, which is folded in half.
4. To make sure that your launch is not a fluke (which could really throw you off when you
compare your experimental results to your theoretical data), we recommend filming at least
three launches with the same settings.

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Analyzing your Videos

1. Upload your videos to a computer, and open them in a program that can play them frame-by-
frame (we recommend Apple QuickTime®, as other players often do not let you step through
videos one frame at a time). Using a ruler, measure the x and y positions of the ball in each
frame, starting from the moment the ball leaves the launch cup (be careful not to scratch your
computer screen with the ruler). Remember that in the Introduction, we defined the ground as
y=0, with the ball leaving the launch cup at height h above the ground, and the ball starting off
at x=0.
o Optional: instead of measuring the ball's position on your screen with a ruler, you can
open your video file in a program like Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling, which will
allow you to click on the ball in each frame of your video to record its location. You
will need to read the instructions for the Tracker program and learn how to use it.
2. Important: Remember that the distances you measure on your computer screen are not the
same as the real-life position of the ball! You should have had a scale in your videos — we
will use a 30-centimeter (cm) ruler as an example. Say a 30 cm ruler in your video appears to
be 3 cm long on your computer screen. This means that your video has a scale of 30:3, or
10:1. So, to convert your on-screen measurements, to real-life values, you multiply all of them
by 10. For example:
o You measure the (x,y) position of the ball on your computer screen to be x = 4 cm, y
= 2 cm.
o Multiply each of these values by 10 to get the actual position of the ball: x = 40 cm, y
= 20 cm.
o Remember that your video might have a different scale factor! This is just an
example.
o The scale factor will change if you change the size of the window on your computer
screen. If you open the program, calculate your scale factor, and then make the video
full-screen, your scale factor will no longer be valid.

Compare your Results

Enter your experimental results from your video analysis in the same table or spreadsheet as your
theoretical results. Now you can plot the (x,y) position of the ball for both theoretical and experimental
results on the same graph. Are they the same?

If your experimental and theoretical results are different, can you explain why? Can you do multiple
trials with different launch settings to see if some match up better than others?