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VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Specialist Mathematics => Topic started by: illuminati on October 19, 2011, 05:40:48 pm

Title: Angles of projectiles
Post by: illuminati on October 19, 2011, 05:40:48 pm
Dear VN Spesh Community,

There's a question I really hate doing; finding the angle a projectile makes with a ground upon collision with the ground (and conversely the angle of direction travelled by a vector).
Does someone know a sure-fire method of doing these?

E.g.

v(t) = 8t i + 10t j - (9.8t+20) k
r(t) = (4t^2 + 1)i + (5t^2) j - (4.9t^2 + 20t) k

Find the angle in which the particle collides with the ground at t = 20/4.9
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: golden on October 21, 2011, 05:50:50 pm
+1
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: Vincezor on October 22, 2011, 06:25:15 pm
Dear VN Spesh Community,

There's a question I really hate doing; finding the angle a projectile makes with a ground upon collision with the ground (and conversely the angle of direction travelled by a vector).
Does someone know a sure-fire method of doing these?

E.g.

v(t) = 8t i + 10t j - (9.8t+20) k
r(t) = (4t^2 + 1)i + (5t^2) j - (4.9t^2 + 20t) k

Find the angle in which the particle collides with the ground at t = 20/4.9

Well first of all, you have to use the velocity vector as it is this that determines the direction the projectile is moving

To find angle of collision (or angle at anytime really) you use the k component if it is 3D and j component if it is 2D and use dot product with the horizontal components (i+j for 3D, i for2D)

Or you can use invtan(y/x) to find the angle at a particular point in time...
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: costa94 on October 22, 2011, 08:52:02 pm
velocity vector... sub in time when it hits the ground... you know horizontal and vertical components then... if you still cant figure it out then you lose
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: golden on October 23, 2011, 11:03:09 am
Dear VN Spesh Community,

There's a question I really hate doing; finding the angle a projectile makes with a ground upon collision with the ground (and conversely the angle of direction travelled by a vector).
Does someone know a sure-fire method of doing these?

E.g.

v(t) = 8t i + 10t j - (9.8t+20) k
r(t) = (4t^2 + 1)i + (5t^2) j - (4.9t^2 + 20t) k

Find the angle in which the particle collides with the ground at t = 20/4.9

Do you have the solutions?
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: nubs on October 23, 2011, 03:48:08 pm
is it 49 degrees?
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: illuminati on October 23, 2011, 05:54:47 pm
oh, nah
I just made the question up on the spot
roflmao
I'll try work it out myself

EDIT: I have 48.93 degrees as an answer
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: nubs on October 23, 2011, 06:10:57 pm
sorry, I forgot to subtract that from 180
I get 131 degrees
This is what I did, a lot of it came down to visualisation
I subbed in the required time into the velocity
I then found the magnitude of the i and j components, which was around 52
I did that^ because we want to find the angle the k component makes with the horizontal axis
So now I have a horizontal line the is 52 units long, and a vertical line that goes 60 units downwards (-60)
So to find that angle, it would be arctan(-60/52)=-49=131 degrees
It's really hard for me to explain, just try and visualise the 3D plane and velocity vector at that particular time, that really helps
Sorry I couldn't explain it any better
Also, I'm not entirely sure I am correct as well so yeah..
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: nubs on October 23, 2011, 06:15:21 pm
If I'm wrong or if there is a better way of going about it, please let me know!
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: illuminati on October 23, 2011, 07:27:37 pm
umm, should still be 49
don't think you can get an obtuse angle for collision with ground if your velocity vector is positive for i, j
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: golden on October 23, 2011, 07:35:07 pm
oh, nah
I just made the question up on the spot
roflmao
I'll try work it out myself

EDIT: I have 48.93 degrees as an answer

I got a similar answer.
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: Dangster on October 23, 2011, 07:40:44 pm
I got 48.94 degrees.
Thanks for this question! I need a lot of practice with projectile motion questions.
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: RobM8 on October 23, 2011, 07:40:55 pm
displacement vector's j component isn't 0 meaning the object isn't hitting the ground
it is ~83.30 units above the ground

assuming that j is the vertical component and j component = 0 is the ground

hits ground when 5t^2 = 0 --> t=0 only
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: RobM8 on October 23, 2011, 08:02:04 pm
If anyone can be bothered try this one I just conjured:

A particle is launched from the ground at time t=0 from the origin (0,0,0)
Find the acute angle that the particle makes with the ground when it hits it again given that the displacement vector (r) of the particle at time t is given by:

r(t) = (2sqrt(2)t - sqrt(200)t)i + (t^2 - 10t)j + 73tk

Answer: 45 degrees

Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: yawho on October 23, 2011, 08:55:05 pm
If anyone can be bothered try this one I just conjured:

A particle is launched from the ground at time t=0 from the origin (0,0,0)
Find the acute angle that the particle makes with the ground when it hits it again given that the displacement vector (r) of the particle at time t is given by:

r(t) = (2sqrt(2)t - sqrt(200)t)i + (t^2 - 10t)j + 73tk

Answer: 45 degrees


If k is the vertical component, the particle will keep on ascending.
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: nubs on October 24, 2011, 02:06:11 am
umm, should still be 49
don't think you can get an obtuse angle for collision with ground if your velocity vector is positive for i, j

I thought it was obtuse if it was positive of i, and acute if it was negative for i :/
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: illuminati on October 24, 2011, 04:12:05 pm
displacement vector's j component isn't 0 meaning the object isn't hitting the ground
it is ~83.30 units above the ground

assuming that j is the vertical component and j component = 0 is the ground

hits ground when 5t^2 = 0 --> t=0 only
yeah, j component isn't the height...
its the k component
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: illuminati on October 24, 2011, 04:15:01 pm
umm, should still be 49
don't think you can get an obtuse angle for collision with ground if your velocity vector is positive for i, j

I thought it was obtuse if it was positive of i, and acute if it was negative for i :/

tan inverse has a range of -pi/2 to pi/2, so thats why i assume angle of collisions would never be above 90 degrees....
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: RobM8 on October 25, 2011, 07:48:07 am
So far, I have only ever come across questions where j is the vertical component, i is the horizontal component and k is the forwards and backwards component.
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: david10d on November 08, 2011, 08:31:33 pm
So far, I have only ever come across questions where j is the vertical component, i is the horizontal component and k is the forwards and backwards component.


sorry for the bump


i've seen where K is the vertical component.


which is correct?
Title: Re: Angles of projectiles
Post by: HarveyD on November 08, 2011, 08:36:06 pm
it doesnt matter, they will tell you