ball velocity/range

[Bob Steele]

Ask a team member that has taken physics.
Projectile motion problem...

Someone mentioned the speed of the ball down the rack but you could experimentally determine the velocity at the end.... but I believe someone observed that it takes 7-8 seconds to roll down the rack....how long is the rack? (distance/time give you an approximation of speed at the end...) or better yet ... figure out the relative effect of the friction of the track on the ball and use the angle to determine that speed...

Once you have the speed and the height you should be able to predict the place where the ball will hit the carpet pretty easily....

rough approximation because the angle down of the rack is pretty flat....... time to fall = square root of (twice the height divided by 9.8)

velocity of ball (horizontal) X time will give you horizontal distance from the end of the rack

A better approximation would be to measure the ramp angle and use vectors to determine the amount of the speed coming off the ramp in both x and y planes and refine your estimate of horizontal displacement....

hmmm this sounds like math to me? and physics....
I thought everyone said they didn't know how we could ever use this boring stuff....

Have a good time!!
Post your results... if you want to share...


then again
of course you can build the whole thing and drop balls ....to see...
I think the most fun would be to do the math.... and then build it and see if you were right...