Thursday, September 20, 2012

Think Like a Physicist 2

Why must a sharp shooter or an archer aim somewhat above her target? Why can't she simply aim directly at the bull's eye to hit it?

19 comments:

  1. If she aims directly at the bull's eye, chances are, the arrow might quickly fall to the ground because of gravity and that she won't hit the target. If she aims directly, the arrow is closer to the ground. If she aims higher,though, while gravity does have an effect on the arrow, her chances of hitting the target are increased. The arrow will seemingly follow a trajectory, a path wherein it starts to reach certain heights, and because of the gravitational pull, starts to glide downwards and towards the target or possibly even the bull's eye.

    - Anne

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  2. They do that because they know that gravity likes to piss them off. If a gunner shoots a gun, the trajectory of the bullet is not a "perfect" straight line. It will not go straight for eternity. It will have a minuscule change in its trajectory. It will slightly go down as it goes farther.(it is unnoticeable since the bullet is fast) This is because of gravity. The root of all your problems is gravity.

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  3. Due to gravity, the arrow will begin to accelerate downwards as soon as it leaves the hand. If the archer aims directly, the arrow will follow a trajectory path and because of gravity, it will be pulled downwards as it goes.

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  4. Gravity will cause the arrow to move downwards as soon as it gets released from the bow. You need to aim it higher, the gravity will still pull it downwards until it reaches the target or the bull's eye.

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  5. If the sharpshooter were to shoot a rifle at a target at, say, 1500 meters away, he would have to aim higher because of the gravitational force acting upon the bullet. However, in real life scenarios, wind, temperature, humidity, and so on would have an affect on the bullet as well, this is called ballistics. Now, if a shooter were to shoot this rifle at that target, he would not only have to aim higher, but also compensate as well for the wind, bullet roll, etc. So, in effect, the shooter not only has to aim higher, but also has to aim sideways in response to changing situations.

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  6. When the archer shoots the arrow, gravity will cause the arrow to move downwards, that's why the archer needs to shoot it a little bit higher.

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  7. Aiming directly at the target will result to less accurate results compared to aiming on it with gravitational pull in mind.
    Gravitational pull affects everything in earth so when doing things, we must always put in mind the power of gravity.

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  8. As the arrow gets nearer to the target, gravitational force tends to pull it downward that is why the archer must must shoot a bit higher for the outcome to be accurate.

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  9. When the archer aims directly at the bulls eyes and when the arrows leaves the hand, the arrow would be pulled downwards due to gravity or gravitational force and the arrow would be pulled downwards and won't be able to hit the bull's eye. Archers tend to aim higher than directly at the bull's eye because as the arrows leaves the hand, it will have more chances on hitting the target while it's being pulled downward.

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  10. The arrow moves in a projectile path, meaning, its trajectory depends on the center of gravity regardless of other forces in the environment. The arrow begins to fall down as soon it reaches the target ; therefore, archers need to aim above the target to have a high precision and accuracy of hitting the bull's eye.

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  11. It is all because of gravity. Just like in the lesson of projectile motion, the object thrown would always have a downward movement if gravity is present; therefore, if the sharpshooter or archer aimed directly at the target, it would not hit the bull's eye. It would instead hit way below the target. That is why an archer must throw higher than his/her target to hit the bull's eye.

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  12. If the archer aimed directly at the bullseye, chances are the arrow will follow a trajectory/path going down because of the pull of gravity. Therefore, he/she must aim higher to have a higher chance of landing the arrow straight into the bullseye.

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  13. If the archer aims directly at the bull's eye, the force of gravity will pull the arrow downwards, which we studied as PM1. So if the archer aims at an angle above the bull's eye she thinks would slowly fall down and hit the bull's eye, then chance are, the arrow will hit the bull's eye.

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  14. If the archer aims at the bull's eye, the arrow will hit somewhere below the bull's eye because of the gravitational pull of the Earth; therefore, the archer must aim above her target.

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  15. The archer must aim somewhere above her target because of the gravitational pull of the Earth. If she were to aim directly at the bull's eye, the arrow will hit below the bull's eye.

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  16. The archer must aim somewhere above her target because of the gravitational pull of the Earth. If she were to aim directly at the bull's eye, the arrow will hit below the bull's eye.

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  17. The archer should aim higher than her target because the arrow will hit below the bull's eye. -Iris

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  18. Because as a projectile travels, it slowly loses its acceleration and velocity due to gravity and air resistance; therefore, the trajectory of the fall will always be lower than its initial position.

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  19. The archer must aim above her target because of gravity. Gravity will pull the arrow downward and it will let the arrow hit below the bull's eye.

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