Projectile motion on an inclined misty surface: II. Scoring a goal

Abstract

Feedback on part I of this series (Ho et al 2009 Phys. Educ. 44 253) motivated us to make hitting the target more interesting with a simple innovation: changing the target to a ring shaped hoop or goalpost and shooting for it in the 'air', as if playing basketball on the inclined plane. We discuss in detail the demarcation of the boundary (safety parabola) between the accessible region and the inaccessible region for a projectile on the surface of the inclined plane, and derive the angle of projection for scoring a goal. We also consider the orientation of the rings for maximizing the chance of scoring.

Projectile motion on an inclined misty surface: I. Capturing and analysing the trajectory

“…The analysis and results have recently been reported in [15]. In a sequel to this paper [16] motivated by enhancing students' experience, a simple modification to the experiment and an extended analysis of the angle of projection to 'hit any target' placed on the surface of the inclined plane are presented. A senior teacher adapted the experiment for use in his school.…”

Using Tracker as a pedagogical tool for understanding projectile motion

“…Thus, a (parameter in Tracker's data tool) = a y (equation (4y)) = −5.038 (value in Tracker's data tool), b = b y = −2.379 and c = c y = −0.003. By comparing coefficients with equation (2y), the students can infer the values of: 1 2 g y = −5.038, and thus g y = −10.08 m s −2 , u y = 2.379 m s −1 and y 0 = −0.003 m respectively.…”

“…Despite many attempts by educators to include hands-on activities such as real equipment [1], video analysis [2] and computer simulation [3] in learning about projectile motion, some research studies [4][5][6] continue to document the misconceptions and learning difficulties encountered by students.…”