Simulated projectiles
The community that develop these demonstrations for Wolfram clearly like the thought of blowing things up, as there are a number of projectile simulations that you can access.
Let’s start with the basic projectile visualisation. To view an animated version of projectile motion see this demonstration.
(Tip! Once you have created a trajectory, you can use the sliders to investigate the effect of dynamically changing a variable on this trajectory. The observant amongst you will notice the assistance this can provide with the end of the workshop question on Q2.3).
Next up, a practical demonstration of this in sport: dart practice.
(Note the provision of a ’jitters’ feature, supposedly to simulate human error [or perhaps the effect of numerous pints of lager while playing])
- This one is the same projectile motion, with pre-loaded variables for projectiles on different planets.
- Finally, this shows the same basic ideas, but with time to impact calculated as well: mathematica demonstration of projectiles in a vacuum.
If you still feel up for a challenge, you might want to check this young man’s Physics in picture 3. Where does that expression come from?