Sciencemadness Discussion Board

projectile motion simulator

nelsonB - 12-10-2013 at 03:41

Hi
I was in search of a projectile motion simulator
for data i have found
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/traj.html
that is very useful but not quite simple as cause its don't really take in consideration the shape of the projectile and its aerodynamicisty

i have found a vulgarized one
http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/projectile-motion/projectile-m...
this is is the type of simulator that could be useful

its might not be very accurate
the only problem with it the don't show where the projectile will fall further than some hundred meter
its go out of the screen :(

one of you guy must have a Treasure for that


[Edited on 12-10-2013 by nelsonB]

bfesser - 13-10-2013 at 08:51

I used to plot crude ballistic trajectories on a <a href="http://education.ti.com/en/us/products/calculators/graphing-calculators/ti-83-plus/features/features-summary" target="_blank">TI-83+</a> <img src="../scipics/_ext.png" /> for my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet" target="_blank">trebuchet</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> experiments. I even coded a basic simulator, though I don't know if I still have it saved anywhere.

AJKOER - 8-12-2013 at 08:29

Quote: Originally posted by nelsonB  
....

useful but not quite simple as cause its don't really take in consideration the shape of the projectile and its aerodynamicisty....


In addition to the shape and aerodynamics characteristics of the projectile, which would include not only its initial shape but distortions, and wind resistance characteristics of the composite material, it occurred to me that the prevailing winds and direction, height above sea level (if fired in a plane, for example) and even temperature and humidity (which are all quantifiable), could be significant factors relating to resistance and changes, in particular, to air density. To quote from one source (Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_of_air ):

"Air density decreases with increasing altitude, as does air pressure. It also changes with variation in temperature or humidity. At sea level and at 15 °C, air has a density of approximately 1.225 kg/m3 (0.0023769 slugs/ft3, 0.001225 g/cm3) according to ISA (International Standard Atmosphere)."

[EDIT] As another source, please see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~dib2/climate/pressure.html . There is an interesting discussion of the interaction of pressure and temperature, and the concept of 'potential temperature', which is mathematically defined at http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Potential_temperature .

[Edited on 8-12-2013 by AJKOER]

Trajectory calculator

Stortulling - 25-6-2014 at 14:29

I don't know if it's something like THIS you are looking for ..

It's my favorite, but you must have the proper data to get a good result of course.

Chemosynthesis - 14-7-2014 at 01:25

I used to have a rocket simulator that sounds similar. I got it from a friend at NASA a long time ago. I forget if they were using RockSim or on to RocketModeler at that point. You may check them out, because I am sure they exceed your needs, and were fun.

pdm55 - 9-4-2016 at 17:36

This is not exactly what you are looking for, I know, but I love it because he shows you all his javascript code. Just basic equations for projectile motion.
http://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/html5/ Newton's cannon