A student who is currently studying in class gets excited to learn about projectiles and decides to test one out himself. He buys a ball throwing cannon for this purpose whose angle and velocity can be adjusted accordingly. He throws the projectile from a point on the ground at a velocity at an angle .
He expects that he would get the exact range but the observed range is somewhat different. Let the percentage difference in the range of the projectile be . Then find
Details and Assumptions
1)Consider only stokes drag, no newtonian drag.
2)Co-efficient of viscosity of air(Dynamic Viscosity) =
3)Mass of the ball , Radius of the ball
3)Calculate percentage difference as :
4)Range is calculated as the distance between the points when the centre of sphere were at the same point when it touched the ground. See diagram.
5)Neglect buoyancy.
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So, as we all know, in an infinite medium, the drag (viscous) is given by
6 π η r v
now, this is directed exactly opposite to velocity, clearly, this being linearly proportional to velocity, we can break into components and write
F d r a g − x = 6 π η r v x F d r a g − y = 6 π η r v y
Now let us not forget gravity as well , and write the equations of motion as
− m x ¨ = 6 π η r x ˙ − m y ¨ = 6 π η r y ˙ + m g
Integrate the y- part twice (dont forget to put proper boundary conditions)
v y ( 0 ) = 1 0 , v x ( 0 ) = 1 0 , x ( 0 ) = 0 , y ( 0 ) = 0
and get
k 2 ( k v y + g ) ( 1 − e − t k ) − k g t
where k = m 6 π η r
(if you dont believe me, you may use taylor series expansion for exponential function which is e x = 1 + 1 x + 2 x 2 + . . . . . neglecting higher order terms and you shall see that it reduces to :
v y t − 2 g t 2
Now equate y to 0 , (it comes back to ground)
use g = 1 0 and input values,
and after thanking Ronak for giving really nice values you get the expression
t = 1 1 ( 1 − e − 1 0 t )
now using a graph plotter to get ( the graph is what i have uploaded, the point is marked)
t = 1 . 9 3 7 and also more usably 1 1 ( 1 − e 1 0 − t ) = 1 . 9 3 7
Now integrate the x equation twice to get
x = k v x ( 1 − e − 1 0 t ) = 1 1 1 0 0 ( 1 . 9 3 7 )
which is 1 7 . 6 0 9 0 m
Now the simple model (no air , nothing, all ideal, way) gives 2 0 m
Calculating percent gives us a deviation of 1 1 . 9 5 percent
add 0 . 5 and box it to get 1 2
(please notify of any printing errors) (or correct them if you are moderator)