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Physics
Classical Physics
Electromagnetism
Air resistance - freefall and horizontal projectile motion
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[QUOTE="brainpushups, post: 6040642, member: 212884"] The question is perhaps a little trickier than it seems. My intuition was that the ball given an initial velocity will slow down more quickly and therefore stay in the air longer. Unfortunately, projectile motion with air drag involves a set of coupled non-linear differential equations so one must solve them numerically for an exact solution (though the vertical-motion-only case is analytically solvable). I used Mathematica to generate some plots to check. In the following graphs the terminal velocity of the object is about 31m/s and it is dropped/fired from a height of 5 meters. The dashed curve represents the dropped object and the solid curve represents the fired object. First set of graphs is for an initial speed about 1/3 of the terminal velocity: [ATTACH=full]229270[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229271[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229272[/ATTACH] The difference in all parameters is minimal. Next, a firing speed near terminal velocity: [ATTACH=full]229273[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229274[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229275[/ATTACH] Finally, for good measure, firing at roughly twice the terminal velocity: [ATTACH=full]229276[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229277[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]229278[/ATTACH] Indeed, the greater the initial horizontal velocity the greater the impact on the vertical components of the motion. [/QUOTE]
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Physics
Classical Physics
Electromagnetism
Air resistance - freefall and horizontal projectile motion
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