Beer Pong Essay
Maths Exploration
Modeling the path of shots used in beer pong
By: David Adeyemi
Introduction
This investigation aims to explore the different paths of shots used in Beer Pong which is a drinking game that involves a ping pong ball and usually 20 cups. This topic is of significance to many teenagers and early adults as it addresses the techniques used in a game played at almost every party. I am very interested in projectile motion as it is part of the topics we cover in HL physics and this also links to a very fun game. It is also one of the topics included in engineering courses which is what I plan to study at university level therefore this gave me the opportunity to improve my knowledge in a future area topic. In HL …show more content…
In order to account for air resistance, we first need to identify the forces acting on the ball at any given time, there are three forces, and they include: the vertical component of drag (F_(drag y)), the horizontal component of drag (F_(drag x)) and force due to gravity (F_g).
In the horizontal direction, the forces sum up to be:
∑▒F_x =-F_(drag x)=-1/2 pv_x^2 C_D A
In the vertical direction, the forces sum up to be:
∑▒F_y =F_(drag y)- F_g=1/2 pv_y^2 C_D A-mg
The net-force acting on the ping pong ball is F=ma according to newton’s second law which states that acceleration is directly proportional to force while mass is inversely proportional.
The overall forces in the x and y direction are therefore also equal
Modeling the path of shots used in beer pong
By: David Adeyemi
Introduction
This investigation aims to explore the different paths of shots used in Beer Pong which is a drinking game that involves a ping pong ball and usually 20 cups. This topic is of significance to many teenagers and early adults as it addresses the techniques used in a game played at almost every party. I am very interested in projectile motion as it is part of the topics we cover in HL physics and this also links to a very fun game. It is also one of the topics included in engineering courses which is what I plan to study at university level therefore this gave me the opportunity to improve my knowledge in a future area topic. In HL …show more content…
In order to account for air resistance, we first need to identify the forces acting on the ball at any given time, there are three forces, and they include: the vertical component of drag (F_(drag y)), the horizontal component of drag (F_(drag x)) and force due to gravity (F_g).
In the horizontal direction, the forces sum up to be:
∑▒F_x =-F_(drag x)=-1/2 pv_x^2 C_D A
In the vertical direction, the forces sum up to be:
∑▒F_y =F_(drag y)- F_g=1/2 pv_y^2 C_D A-mg
The net-force acting on the ping pong ball is F=ma according to newton’s second law which states that acceleration is directly proportional to force while mass is inversely proportional.
The overall forces in the x and y direction are therefore also equal