Experiment Mb-16
Monkey and Cannon
Description:
In this experiment, a monkey is hanging from a pole, attached by a magnet.
This magnet has a trigger that releases the monkey when a ball leaves the cannon.
The cannon is aimed at the monkey using a laser. When a ball is released
from the cannon, the monkey is released by the magnet at the same time.
The monkey is hit by the ball. The cannon has three ranges at which it can
shoot a ball. Long range or medium range can be used for this experiment.
At short range, the monkey and ball will each hit the table before they can collide.
It is important to have the laser that points at the monkey exactly centered in
the cannon, otherwise it will be off target and the experiment will not work.
This is a picture of the monkey just as it is about to be hit by the ball.
The arrows indicate the monkey on the left and the ball on the right.
The result of this experiment is that gravity affects all objects the same,
no matter their path, whether it be projectile or simple falling. This
is proven by the ball hitting the monkey. Also, this experiment shows
that vertical forces and horizontal forces act completely independent of each
other. Video clips of this demonstration are available for the setup (.avi
[Windows] and .mov
[Mac]) as well as the demonstration itself (.avi
[Windows] and .mov
[Mac]).
On the left is a picture of the monkey attached to the magnet, which is triggered
when the ball exits the cannon. On the right is a picture of the cannon.
The laser is visible on the left end of the cannon and on the right end you
can see the device that triggers the monkey to fall exactly when the ball begins
to pass through it.
Materials:
Projectile Launcher (cannon) with trigger, projectile, monkey (with magnet in
the head so that it can be held up by electromagnet) or metal can, electromagnet
with trigger, pole (to support electromagnet)
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This page was last updated on
Friday August 15, 2008 8:37 PM
