Ballistics Lab

Essay by elfmanrunner April 2003

download word file, 6 pages 4.3

The Ballistic Lab

In the Ballistic Lab we learned about many new and interesting things. We learned about acceleration due to gravity, or a(g) which is -9.8 m/s^2, its negative because the acceleration is down, now what this tells us is that over a long period of distance the velocity will continually increase but in a negative direction which in this case is down. We learned about Ballistics, which is being kicked, launched, thrown, or propelled, and the distance, time, and speed in which it all happened. We learned about free fall, which is, an object starting at zero velocity and falling straight down. We learned about terminal velocity, which is the starting velocity at a certain point in a period of time. We also learned about weightlessness, which is just saying that you have no gravity pulling you toward anything. We also learned about gravity itself, which is basically just a bend in space that pulls objects towards it as represented in one of our demonstrations.

I then learned some new equations which included; S=Vot+(1/2)at^2, tmax=(-V0/a), and Vf^2-Vo^2=2as. Each of these equations has something unique about them. The first one S=Vot+(1/2)at^2 is called the ballistic equation, it allows you to figure out basically any ballistic whether it be only horizontal, only vertical, or both, it basically mean Distance equals starting velocity times the time plus one half times the acceleration times time to the second power, this equations is measured in meters. The second equation is the derivative or the first equations. Tmax=(-Vo/a? this equation allows us to arrive at the total time it took the object in motion to reach its maximum height, this equation is measured in seconds. The third equation Vf^2-Vo^2=2as is called the super equation it allows you to either figure for s...