- #1
bullet_ballet
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Please bear with my verbosity on this one, and with the messy symbols.
The problem states that I am to fire a projectile from some distance d above the ground (ignoring air resistance) with initial velocity v0 and initial angle θ. I am to show that between R (the maximum horizontal distance), v0, θ, and the drop d there is a relationship R sin2θ + d (1 + cos2θ) = R²/R0 where R0 ≡ v0²/g.
Well, the way I see it the range has two parts. The first part is the range R1, the horizontal distance the projectile covers in going from y=d to some ymax and then falling back to y=d. This is given by the normal
(v0² sin2θ)/g. Then one should have to calculate the horizontal distance covered by the drop from y=d to y=0, which is simply R2=v cosθ t', where t' is the time it takes for the ball to drop from y=d to y=0. Well, at y=d the object should have velocity v0 and be falling at angle θ. To find t' I use the formula y=y0 + v0 sinθ t' - ½ g t'². Plugging in y=0 and y0=d and using the quadratic formula I get that:
t' = [v0 sinθ ± √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g.
Now, adding R1 and R2 to get R, I obtain:
R = R1+R2 = (v0² sin2θ)/g + (v0² sin2θ)/2g - [v0 cosθ √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g
or R = (3 v0² sin2θ)/2g - [v0 cosθ √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g
Well, I can't manipulate that equation to get the necessary relationship, and in a related problem utilizing the above equation didn't give me the correct answer (they asked for an maximizing angle and a v0).
The logic seems pretty sound to me, so what am I doing wrong? I've been agonizing over this for hours, so any help is appreciated.
The problem states that I am to fire a projectile from some distance d above the ground (ignoring air resistance) with initial velocity v0 and initial angle θ. I am to show that between R (the maximum horizontal distance), v0, θ, and the drop d there is a relationship R sin2θ + d (1 + cos2θ) = R²/R0 where R0 ≡ v0²/g.
Well, the way I see it the range has two parts. The first part is the range R1, the horizontal distance the projectile covers in going from y=d to some ymax and then falling back to y=d. This is given by the normal
(v0² sin2θ)/g. Then one should have to calculate the horizontal distance covered by the drop from y=d to y=0, which is simply R2=v cosθ t', where t' is the time it takes for the ball to drop from y=d to y=0. Well, at y=d the object should have velocity v0 and be falling at angle θ. To find t' I use the formula y=y0 + v0 sinθ t' - ½ g t'². Plugging in y=0 and y0=d and using the quadratic formula I get that:
t' = [v0 sinθ ± √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g.
Now, adding R1 and R2 to get R, I obtain:
R = R1+R2 = (v0² sin2θ)/g + (v0² sin2θ)/2g - [v0 cosθ √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g
or R = (3 v0² sin2θ)/2g - [v0 cosθ √(v0² sin²θ + 2gd)]/g
Well, I can't manipulate that equation to get the necessary relationship, and in a related problem utilizing the above equation didn't give me the correct answer (they asked for an maximizing angle and a v0).
The logic seems pretty sound to me, so what am I doing wrong? I've been agonizing over this for hours, so any help is appreciated.
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