![]() ![]() This is actually a constant representing Earth's gravity. You will note a strange "9.8" that appears in the equation, seemingly out of nowhere. Once we have the the height, we can go about calculating the muzzle velocity. If you are doing this in real life, you would want to use the memory feature of your calculator. Our remaining calculations will be a little off, but for purposes of example this should not matter. This makes it easier to work with, but a little less accurate. ![]() Note that the result has been rounded to three decimal places. We would then use the equation as below to get the height of the shot. ![]() Note that this is the mass after it is shot, because the sides get trimmed off as it is shoved into the barrel.įor this example, lets assume that angle 1 is 65 degrees, angle two is 55 degrees, the mass of the potato is 0.05 kilograms, the length of the barrel is 0.92 meters, and the distance between the observers is 23 meters. Anyway, aside from angles 1 and 2, you will also need to know the mass of the potato in kilograms and the length of your spudgun barrel in meters. These angles will hence forth be refered to as "Angle 1" or "Angle 2" in the text, but will remain as Theta 1 or 2 in the equations. The first angle is Theta 1 (on the diagram as a Theta with a subscript one on the right), the second is Theta 2 (same as one, just with a two). It will hang there for a split second at it's maximum height. The observers track the spud with their inclinometers and record the angle at which the potato stops in mid air. The potato is shot straight up into the air. It should look something like the diagram below. Those observers will use inclinometers to measure their angle to the spud when it reaches the apex of its arc. You will need two observers apart from each other at a fixed and known distance. First, though, we will need to shoot the spudgun and take some measurements. What we are interested in calculating is the speed of the potato, the distance straight up, and the average explosive force. Nothing that can't be solved with the aid of a calculator. Most of it is just multiplying, dividing and subtracting, although there is a small amount of trigonometry. Because math is evil, I have tried to keep it clear and to a minimum. But first a warning: yes, there is math in this. This page is limited to a few of the more interesting ones, such as distance, speed and explosive force. In fact, there are hundereds of calculations that could be performed. In case you haven't already noticed, there is actually a lot of physics in one little spudgun. So you knew that at some point there would be at least some science in this. ![]()
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