Suggest some likely sources of error that could be responsible for the difference between your measured and predicted values for the horizontal distance traveled by the projectile at the different angles used in this experiment. “Human error” is not acceptable without saying specifically what error the human could have made. “Calculation error” is also not acceptable—if you are worried about whether the calculation is correct, consult with your classmates and/or someone you trust to do the calculation correctly.
Suggest some likely sources of error that could be responsible for the difference between your measured and predicted values for the horizontal distance traveled by the projectile at the different angles used in this experiment. “Human error” is not acceptable without saying specifically what error the human could have made. “Calculation error” is also not acceptable—if you are worried about whether the calculation is correct, consult with your classmates and/or someone you trust to do the calculation correctly.
PROCEDURE
Part I
- Place a marble launcher on the table, oriented so it points straight upward (θ = 90°). Pull the launch mechanism back to the first (nearest) launch position and place a marble into the launcher. Practice quickly releasing the launch mechanism and get a sense for the maximum height the marble will reach after it is launched.
- Hold a meter stick beside the marble launcher so that the zero end is beside the marble. Launch the marble and record the maximum height that the marble reaches. (Try to locate the top of the marble to the nearest centimeter. A slow motion smart phone video might be really helpful here!) You should repeat this procedure several times (at least three) so that you are confident that you are observing the maximum height accurately. Record several values and take an average.
Projectile maximum height (several values) 0.975m, 1.03m, 0.832m
Projectile maximum height (average value) 0.946m
Part II
- Move the marble launcher so that it points off the edge of the table toward a nearby wall. Adjust the marble launcher to an angle of θ = 15° (nearly horizontal) and perform a few practice trials (still using only the first launch position) so that the marble is traveling as nearly as possible straight along one of the lines between floor tiles. Be careful not to fire the marble directly at any people in the room!
- Measure the height of the end of the marble launcher above the floor (projectile initial height).
- Launch the marble and observe the point where the marble hits the floor. Measure the horizontal distance from the point just below the end of the launcher to the point where the projectile hits the floor. As above, you should repeat this procedure at least three times and calculate an average value for the projectile’s horizontal distance.
Projectile initial height 0.027m
Projectile horizontal distance (several values) 0.137m, 0.162m, 0.142m
Projectile horizontal distance (average value) 0.145m
- As time allows, repeat the preceding steps for two additional angles. Choose θ = 45° for one of the angles and another value significantly greater than θ = 45°.
θ = 45°
Projectile initial height 0.027m
Projectile horizontal distance (several values) 0.184m, 0.218m, 0.226m
Projectile horizontal distance (average value) 0.209m
θ = 70°
Projectile initial height 0.027m
Projectile horizontal distance (several values) 0.105m, 0.117m, 0.134m
Projectile horizontal distance (average value) 0.118m
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