Projectile Motion

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This project involves the simulation of projectile motion.  A projectile is launched from a starting point with a given initial velocity and angle with the ground.   A target is placed a given number of feet from the starting point.  The path of the projectile is then calculated, taking into account the effect of downward gravity.  In one version of each simulation, an additional point magnetic force is placed at a given location.

In the first simulation, the initial velocity, initial angle, target distance, and target radius are input by the user.  The path of the projectile is then graphically plotted as it is calculated; the program reports whether the target was successfully hit.

proj_normal.gif (4384 bytes)           proj_object.gif (4503 bytes)

In the second simulation, the x-axis represents a range of initial velocities and the y-axis represents a range of initial launch angles.  For each (velocity, angle) pair, the projectile path is calculated.  A color is plotted at the corresponding (x, y) point based on how close the projectile lands to the target.  The result is pretty pictures.

plot_normal.gif (19780 bytes)           plot_grav.gif (21851 bytes)

See the code for single launch and multiple launches.

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