Angles and Trajectories

Introduction
I have built a t-shirt cannon/gun that I have shot at different angles to test how the angles affect the distance. I will be presenting a graph with the data I have collected. The data on the graph shows at what angle the cannon/gun was shot at and the distance the t-shirt went.(in centimeters) I will also be showing you the observations I have made. I hope you like my project.

Question:

Research 1:

• A 45 degree angle won't always go the farthest and there are resons why.
• One of them is that the ball can be under drag force.
• Another is that when the ball is acting backwards, it is due to air resistance.
• The angle has to be less than 45 to reach maximum distance.
• A 45 degree angle would be best for level ground.

Research 2:

• If you shoot straight up or down, there will be no arc.
• Sometimes an angle greater than 45 will go farthest.

Hypothesis:

The angle of the t-shirt gun will affect the trajectory of the t-shirt. A 45 degree angle will reach the farthest distance out of the other angles I will test.

Observations:
1. Each shot for each angle were pretty close to each other.
2. All of the shots were consistent.
3. Most of the shots didn't go very high. (Expected)
4. 90 degree angle went behind.
5. 30 degree angle went farthest.
6. 90 degree angle went closest. (Expected)

Data

• 30 degree average: 858.4 cm
• 40 degree average: 536.288 cm
• 45 degree average: 474.776 cm
• 70 degree average: 254.762 cm
• 90 degree average: -1.524 cm

Conclusion Summary:
My hypothesis is half correct. I was correct about whether the angle would affect the distance. What I wasn't correct about was that the best angle was not the 45 degree angle. During the experiment, I had a couple of problems and concerns. One problem I had was that I measured in inches, instead of centimeters. That taught me to pay attention better. One concern that I had was that if I did this again, if the wind would affect it differently. One thing I learned was that your results might not be close to what you might think would happen. Overall, my hypothesis was half correct, I have ups and downs, and that I can learn a few things while having fun.

The End