Projectile Motion

The tool CURVES may be used to define curves through parametric equations. This example shows how Descartes can draw families of curves. The curves in the example represent the parabolic trajectories of a projectile thrown at a speed v at an angle a from the horizontal. The applet draws the family of the motions obtained with a given speed v, when the angle a sweeps the interval [5,85]in 5 degree steps. The example takes advantage of the sequence feature of all the graphic tools of Descartes.

In this example the curve [f(t),g(t)] is defined by

f(t)=v*cos(a)*t

and

g(t)=v*sin(a)*t-g*t^2/2

The parametric equations are defined in terms of the parameters a and v. The user can change the parameter v. The applet by itself varies the angle a from 5 to 85 degrees using the sequence feature.

TEXTOS is used to indicate the range of values of a.

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	Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Aņo 2000