ball velocity/range

[ravichauhan]

i ran a search for this but i couldnt find anything but maybe i was wrong

if someone with a fully built rail system for ball redeployment could post how far the ball tends to land after redeployment on average? also the velocity would be a nice thing to know?

[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...

[star_lancer]

I believe the team that said it took seven seconds was giving the total time it took to take the ball from the goal and get it into play.
Wouldn't you have to take acceleration into account?
You may want to enlist the help of a physics teacher for this one.

[Nuttyman54]

on the Manchester field they were hitting pretty reliably at 4 feet past the end of the tower.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

on the Manchester field they were hitting pretty reliably at 4 feet past the end of the tower.

Ahhhh now we can really get everything right...
We can determine the roling friction of the ball on the rails...
make a stab at the angular momentum of the ball...
determine the end velocity....both at the point of departure from the rails
and when it strikes the floor... ( which might be important in determining what will happen to it after the strike...)

ooops the physics teacher in me is showing.... sorry...

I do wonder... Evan... do you think that by using the trident, a human player could increase the initial velocity of the ball? and thus change this point of impact? We had no field out here in Seattle...did you observe anything like this on your kickoff field?

[ravichauhan]

thanks for the time...i think i can handle it from there

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

I do wonder... Evan... do you think that by using the trident, a human player could increase the initial velocity of the ball? and thus change this point of impact? We had no field out here in Seattle...did you observe anything like this on your kickoff field?

I saw a few people attempt it, but it's really not possible. The design of the trident mostly requires that you pull straight or close to straight down to dislodge/release the ball on the rail, and any efforts seemed to have a negligible effect on the final distance.

Also, you have to make sure not to jam the ball into the trident like some of the animations or it will get stuck and is very hard to get off. Lightly placing the ball on the prongs seems to be sufficient to hold it in place