Using Spreadsheets for Projectile Motion

Michael Fowler
University of Virginia
Putting Galileo's Ideas in a Spreadsheet
The first successful attempt to describe projectile motion quantitatively followed from
Galileo's insight that the horizontal and vertical motions should be considered separately,
then the projectile motion could be described by putting these together.
Galileo argues that, if air resistance could be neglected, the horizontal motion was one at
constant velocity, the vertical motion was one of uniform downward acceleration, identical to
that of an object falling straight down.
It's easy to reproduce this compound motion with a spreadsheet. et's call it Projectile1, and
write in !" #Motion of a Projectile Under Gravity#
There are three variables$ the initial horizontal velocity, call it v%&%init, the initial vertical
velocity v%y%init, and the acceleration due to gravity g. In contrast to our earlier
spreadsheets on falling objects, we will now take the upward direction to be positive.
'f course, we also need to specify the time interval used in our discretization of the motion,
we'll call it delta%t as usual.
(ince we're interested in both velocity and position of the projectile as functions of time,
we'll construct a spreadsheet with five columns$ time, v%&, v%y, &, y. )'f course, v%& isn't
going to change, but we're going to need that column when we include air resistance, so we
might as well put it in now.*
In !+,!,,!- and !". write respectively g= , v_x_init= , v_y_init= and delta_t= . /lic0 on
1+, clic0 Insert23ame24efine, it will suggest name g, clic0 '5. 6ut the appropriate names in
1,, 1- and 1"., and then enter some reasonable values, say, 10, 20, 30, 0.05, ready for when
we construct the table.
3ow, in !"7, 1"7, /"7, 4"7 and 8"7 write time, v_x, v_y, x, y. Then select these cells,
clic0 1old, and /enter justify. )!lso, 1old and 9ight :ustify !+, !,, !-, !"..*
In !";, 1";, /";, 4"; and 8"; write 0, v_x_init, v_y_init, 0 and 0.
In !"< write =A15delta_t. In 1"< write =!15. In /"< write ="15g#delta_t. In 4"<
write =$15 0.5#%!15 !1&'#delta_t. In 8"< write =(150.5#%"15 "1&'#delta_t.
3ow, select cells !"< through 8"< and copy all five columns down through 8="7.
>ighlight cells 4"; through 8="7, and clic0 /hartwizard. /all the graph Projectile) *ero
Air +e,i,tance, label the a&es #di,tance along gro-nd# and #.eig.t a/ove gro-nd#.

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>aving done that, save it again as Projectile2. ?e're going to do some more wor0 on it, but
don't want to lose what we've done so far.
Stop the Ball When It Hits the Ground!
'ne problem with this spreadsheet as it stands is that it doesn't 0now when to stop@the ball
falls bac0 to ground level, then continues right on into the ground. !ssuming we're throwing
a ball in a level field, this is an undesirable feature@we'd li0e it to stop when it gets to ground
level.
?e want to tell the spreadsheet that if it finds the ball will be underground on the ne&t step,
stop right thereA )'f course, this means we'll stop the ball slightly above ground level, but if
the step size is small, this won't be a big error, and we'll ignore it for now.*
Using the IF Function
8&cel has an IB function. It's written IB)(tatement, C,D*. #(tatement# is some logical
statement, such as 8"EF.. If the statement is true, 8&cel does C. If it's false, 8&cel does D.
3ow, in 8"<, the y@coordinate of the ball, we have$ =(150.5#%"15"1&'#delta_t
?e re:lace this with$
=7;%(150.5#%"15"1&'#delta_t<0= (150.5#%"15"1&'#delta_t= (15'
This means that as long as the ball will still be above ground after this step, do what you were
doing. 1GT if this step is going to get you below ground level, don't do it@stay where you are,
just put 8"< H 8";. This stops the ball falling further, but if we want it to really stay where it
is we must also stop the horizontal motionA (o, in 4"< we write$
=7;%(150.5#%"15"1&'#delta_t<0=$150.5#%!15!1&'#delta_t=$15'
?e then copy these formulas down to 4="7, 8="7.
To get a bit more practice with IB statements, let us find the range of the projectile, how far
away it lands. This would be the ma&imum value of x it attains, e&cept that if we choose
delta%t too small, it might still be in the air at the end of the =.. rows of calculation, so then
the value of x is not the true range. 'f course, we could figure this out by loo0ing at the
graph, but it's nice to have it done automatically.
In !"" we write range= , and in 1"" we write$
=7;%$21>=$213= $21>=?,till in air?'
This translates as #If the last two horizontal positions of the particle in the table are the same@
so it's come to rest@then range H the horizontal position, otherwise write #still in air#.

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Then resave it as Projectile3. The reason to 0eep resaving the spreadsheet under new names
is that if it gets too messed up, you can always go bac0 a few steps, not to the beginningA
Taking Aim
?e've so far followed Galileo's analysis, treating the horizontal and vertical motions
separately. Bor a gun, of course, the more natural variables would be the initial speed of the
bullet v and the angle of the gun barrel to the horizontal. It's usually simpler to adjust the
angle of the barrel than to adjust the bullet speed )although that may have been less the case
for cannon in Galileo's day*.
In terms of these variables, v%&%init H vcos and v%y%init H vsin . In 8&cel, the sin and cos
function ta0e arguments in radians, where E<. degrees H = radians. 8&cel writes as 6I)*.
(o the formulas we want are$ v_x_init = v#co,%t.eta#P7%'@1A0' ,
v_y_init = v#,in%t.eta#P7%'@1A0'.
In !E write$ Projectile fired at ,:eed v at angle t.eta degree, to .oriBontal.
In !; write v= , in !< write t.eta= . Insert the corresponding names in 1; and 1<.
3ow, in 1, and 1- write =v#co,%t.eta#P7%'@1A0' and =v#,in%t.eta#P7%'@1A0' respectively.
This spreadsheet should now be ready for actionA
(xerci,e$ Bi& some value for firing speed v, and vary theta to find the ma&imum range. Bor
this zero@air@resistance case, the ma&imum range occurs at theta equal to forty@five degrees.
There will be some small error in the spreadsheet@we have replaces a smooth flight be a series
of steps. Burthermore, the end of the path is a bit untidy as we've set it up )there is room to
improve this spreadsheetA*. (till, the accuracy is within one percent, and that's ample to give a
clear picture of the physics, not to mention that real life variables, such as wind, etc., are such
that further accuracy is probably meaningless.
(ee what 0ind of accuracy you get for different v's and delta%t's, and thin0 about why the
accuracy varies.

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Air esistance
!s usual, resave the spreadsheet as 6rojectile7. ?e are about to add air resistance.
et's assume that the air resistance is proportional to the square of the velocity, and, of course
is directed bac0wards, so it has magnitude @bv
=
, where b is a coefficient and v is the speed of
the projectile.
It's useful to 0eep trac0 of the speed of the projectile, so we'll put in an e&tra column for that.
/lic0 on the 4 above the cell 4". This will select the whole column which trac0s the x@
position. 3ow clic0 Insert2/olumns and a new blan0 column will appear. The new column
will be 4, the x@positions are now in 8. )8&cel will automatically adjust formulas.* ?rite #v#
in 4"7.
8nter in the new 4";$ =3C+5%!15#!15"15#"15'
/opy this formula down to the end of the table.
?e're now ready to include the drag force in the equations of motion. These, of course, give
the rate of change of the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity, in other words
the vector equation F H ma is split into components F
&
H ma
&
, F
y
H ma
y
. Gp to this point, we
have had F
&
H . and F
y
H @mg. ?e must now add the appropriate components of the drag
force. It is a vector of magnitude bv
=
, and direction antiparallel to v. >ence its x@ and y@
components are in the same ratio to its total length as the corresponding components of v. (o,
the components of drag force felt by the projectile are @)v
&
2v*bv
=
and @)v
y
2v*bv
=
.
The full equations of motion are$
ma
&
H @ )v
&
2v*bv
=
, ma
y
H @mg @ )v
y
2v*bv
=
, )we'll ta0e m H " for now, though.*
The spreadsheet will as usual calculate the change in velocity components from one row to
the ne&t using
v
&
)tIdelta%t* H v
&
)t* I a
&
)t*delta%t.
To include the drag force in this computation, we might write in 1"<$
H1"; @ bJ)1";24";*J4";J4";Jdelta%t
and in /"<$
H/";@gJdelta%t @ bJ)/";24";*J4";J4";Jdelta%t
!ctually, we are wasting the computer's time hereA ?e could cancel the 4"; in the
denominator against one of the 4";'s in the numerator, to give in 1"<$
=!15 D /#!15#$15#delta_t
and in /"<$
="15Dg#delta_t D /#"15#$15#delta_t
These formulas are now ready to copy down to fill the table.

xercise! Dou should spend some time playing with this spreadsheetA Bind out how including
air resistance affects the ma&imum range, and the best angle to shoot at for ma&imum range.
4o you thin0 it's greater than or less than 7; degreesK Bind out. !lso, see how the shape of
the path is altered. >ere's an e&ample$
Incidentally, the pre@Galilean medieval theory of projectiles was that they went pretty much
in a straight line until they'd #used up# their initial momentum, whereupon they dropped right
down. It's easy to see this theory loo0s a lot more plausible with high air resistance. )It's also
of course a picture many people still have @@ when roadrunner runs off the edge of a cliff, he
goes in a straight line until he loo0s down, realizes where he is, then dropsA*
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