In medieval warfare, one of the greatest technological advancement was the trebuchet. The trebuchet was used to sling rocks into castles. You are asked to study the motion of such a projectile for a group of local enthusiast planning a medieval war reenactment. Unfortunately an actual trebuchet had not been built yet, so you decide to first look at the motion of a thrown ball as a model of rocks thrown by a trebuchet. Specifically, you are interested in how the horizontal and the vertical components of the velocity for a thrown object change with time. 1. Make a large rough sketch of the trajectory of the ball after it has been thrown. Draw the ball in at least five different positions; two when the ball is going up, two when it is going down, and one at its maximum height. Label the horizontal and vertical axes of your coordinate system. 2. On the sketch, draw and label the expected acceleration vectors of the ball (relative sizes and directions) for the five different positions. Decompose each acceleration vector into its vertical and horizontal components.
3. On the sketch, draw and label the velocity vectors of the object at the same positions you chose to draw your acceleration vectors. Decomposes each velocity vector into its vertical and horizontal components. Check to see that the changes in the velocity vector are consistent with the acceleration vectors.
4. Looking at the sketch, how does someone expect the ball's horizontal acceleration to change with time? Could you give a possible equation giving the ball's horizontal acceleration as a function of time? Graph this equation. If there are constants in your equation, what kinematic quantities do they represent? How would someone determine these constants from the graph?
5. Looking at the sketch, how does someone expect the ball's horizontal velocity to change with time? Is it consistent with the statements about the ball's acceleration from the previous question? Could you give a possible equation for the ball's horizontal velocity as a function of time? Graph this equation. If there are constants in the equation, what kinematic quantities do they represent? How would someone determine these constants from the graph?
6. Could you give a possible equation for the ball's horizontal position as a function of time? Graph this equation. If there are constants in the equation, what kinematic quantities do they represent? How would someone determine these constants from the graph? Are any of these constants related to the equations for horizontal velocity or acceleration?
7. Repeat questions 4-6 for the vertical component of the acceleration, velocity, and position. How are the constants for the acceleration, velocity and position equations related?