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I need physics help

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kyle_w
Posts: 6805 - Karma: 23
ok heres the deal. we have to make a tennis ball launcher capable of firing a tennis ball at the same speed everytime. it also has to be able to fire anywhere from 0 to 90 degrees.

heres the tricky part. we can use anything but gas, flame, or chemicals. so we need like a slingshot or catapult design or something really creative. anyone with plans? help, anyone, or find me something on the net. i cant find anything
Sep 28 2006 10:54PM
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C-Burg
Posts: 4729 - Karma: 130
make a gun using compressed air. Have two values on it, one to let the air in and a bigger one that lets the air out.
Sep 28 2006 11:06PM
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zepscratch
Posts: 3517 - Karma: 36
like a paintball gun? if your using air make sure its air, not co2
Sep 28 2006 11:09PM
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AbeFroman
Posts: 1268 - Karma: -4
ya i have to make something like that, but it has to be a 'trebuchet' or something. I need plans to
Sep 28 2006 11:10PM
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KillerMonkey
Posts: 6435 - Karma: 108
Catapult, very easy to make and quite reliable
 Nail two poles about a foot long into a board.
Attach a hook to the top of each one.
Take a bungee cord and stretch it between the two and attach to hooks
Build a little bascket onto the bungee cord
Trial it a bunch of times to get the right velocity and angle
Sep 28 2006 11:13PM
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RenegadeZ3
Posts: 452 - Karma: 38
does whoever shoots it farther win?
and can you use motors. if you can use a motor, then that's pretty much game over, you win.
Sep 28 2006 11:59PM
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kyle_w
Posts: 6805 - Karma: 23
ok, no we cannot use motors. and we cannot use electricity either, but we can us a battery if its approved by the teacher.

i kinda see what you mean up there about the air valves, but i cant really put it all together in my head
Sep 29 2006 12:02AM
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poor@$$skibum
Posts: 1625 - Karma: 40
make a trebuchet, I made one that worked quite well. Try this site, its pretty usefull.

http://members.iinet.com.au/~rmine/howtreb.html
Sep 29 2006 12:08AM
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kyle_w
Posts: 6805 - Karma: 23
yeah, i was thinking a catapult type design, but it has to be able to launch at all angles.
Sep 29 2006 12:35AM
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skiEER
Posts: 4089 - Karma: 79
throw it
Sep 29 2006 12:43AM
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Von
Posts: 4869 - Karma: 21

I think there is this thing called a tennis raquet thats supposed to be able to hit those things.

Sep 29 2006 12:45AM
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bigairjay.
Posts: 292 - Karma: 10
If your still working on it I built one end of last year, but for a pingpong ball. I used a pvd pipe with a spring inside. there was a cut down too sides of the pipe and a metal bar going through you could slide to compress the spring. the whole tube was on a hinge and had a plumpbob under if for the angel. If you have to do calculations for it and not complicated ones its pretty easy to versus a catapult which has centripital accel. You just use F=kx and E=(kx^2)/2
Oct 6 2006 5:03PM
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toominator
Posts: 4792 - Karma: 120
uhhh... air is gas no?

oxygen = gas, nitrogen = gas, argon = gas, carbon dioxide = gas.

and surprisingly 99.998% of air is comopsed of the above gasses

seeing its physics maybe you would want to use a spring, thats probably what you teacher is thinking because you can work out the spring constant and then work out the force that be provided by it. if you had something like a pvc pipe with a spring that is normally uncompressed mounted inside it it could work quite well, you could look at things like using two spring or wven using two springs that are normally compressed mounted on the outside of the pipe that pull the ball forewards instead of pushing it forewards
Oct 6 2006 5:44PM
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Lateralis
Posts: 1228 - Karma: 332
in grade 12 physics we made a trebuchet. my group had the sickest fucken trebuchet. we were only allowed to use 11lbs of counterweight and who ever shot the golf ball the farthest won. most of the other teams shot theirs around 15 to 20 meters but us hahahhahhahahah we fucken annhilated them by shootin the golf ball 90 meters. we pretty much cleared the soccer field. needless to say, our teacher was so impressed with our trebuchet he gave us 110% to all 4 of us on the project. oh and we named it the milf hunter
Oct 6 2006 5:51PM
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