Speed or Launch Angle?

by Luis Velez

Submitted : Fall 2015

The idea of this project was based off of a trajectory-style problem, similar to a bullet shot out of a gun at a certain angle, or a baseball being hit with a bat.  The object, when hit or launched from an origin point, would follow a certain path at a given angle and speed until it reaches the ground at a horizontal distance. The focal point of this project was to determine whether an angle or speed would be the most important factor in how far an object can travel. 

The first steps that needed to be done were to find the velocities for each component (horizontal and vertical components). The next step would be to calculate the time it takes for the object to reach the ground.  Afterwards, the total distance travelled by the object would have to be calculated using its horizontal velocity and the time the object travelled before it landed. Using two different speeds (thirty meters per second and sixty meters per second) and two different angles (thirty degrees and sixty degrees), I came to the conclusion that speed was the main contributor as to how far an object would travel. According to my work done, the angle had little to do with the total distance an object would travel, which was a surprising factor.

[ Back ]