Gizmos Student Exploration: Golf Range Answer Key

Gizmos Student Exploration: Golf Range Answer Key

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: acceleration, air resistance, gravity, hang time, launch angle, projectile motion, trajectory, vector, velocity

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1.    You are in a contest with your friends to see who can drive a golf ball the farthest. Should you hit a “line drive” (low to the ground) or a shot with a very high angle? Explain.

2.    Golf drives travel much farther than Major League home runs. Why might this be?

Gizmo Warm-up

Have you ever hit a hole-in-one? You will have a chance to do that in the Golf Range Gizmo, where you will see how a variety of factors affect the path of a golf ball. The movement of objects such as a ball through space is called projectile motion.

1.    Press Play (   ). Did the ball go too far, the right distance, or not far enough?

2.    Click Reset (  ). Move the vinitial and θ sliders to adjust the velocity and launch angle until you get a hole-in-one. (With the Gizmo sound on (  ) you will hear “Hole in one!”)

3.   

64 m/s and 45 degrees.

Can you get holes-in-one using other combinations of vinitial and θ? If so, give an example.

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Activity A:

Maximum distance

Get the Gizmo ready:

●                                     Click Reset and check that Atmosphere: Air is selected.

●                                     Set vinitial to 75 m/s and θ to 45.0 degrees.

Question: What launch angle will produce the longest drive?