AP Physics' Nod to Isaac Newton

Last Thursday Minh Trinh’s Advanced Placement Physics students headed out to Verducci Field with an array of faux-rockets to conduct experiments in measuring velocity and range and the effects of gravity, testing equations for projectile motion, specifically  the “range” equation. Over the course of the morning class, the students sent dozens of projectiles skyward at a variety of known angles, measuring the time and distance they traveled and comparing that data to their theoretical calculations. At period’s end they retired to the classroom to compare their findings with what the text book and Sir Isaac Newton had in mind.
     For those who have forgotten their physics, they gathered data relying on the formulas that:
(initial) velocity equals gravity times one-half the time in the air...
AND:   The distance (range) equals the initial velocity squared, times the sine of two times the angle (at launch) ALL DIVIDED BY the force of gravity. [view the photos]
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