What Is Launch Angle in Physics?

We want science to predict the future. Science cannot do this very accurately accept in very specific cases. The case of projectile motion is very well defined. We know what a projectile will do given a certain force. This can be very useful.

Angles

A large angled pie and a small one

Angles are the way we determine the size of pie slices of circles, to put it simply. Or more rigorously to find the amount of distance on a perfect circular path between two lines which touch at a vertex. Or in an easier to understand wording, two straight edges of the slice of pie are the two lines which we use to find the angle. The wider the pie piece the bigger the angle. A full quarter of a pie would be a 90 degree angle, a half a pie would be 180 degrees, a full pie would be 360 degree angle.

Launch Angle

The launch angle would then be the size that a piece of pie that has two straight sides. The two sides of the pie would be the ground and the direction a body is launched.

Definition

How do you define a launch? A launch occurs when a force acts upon a body thrusting it so that it is no longer in contact with the surface from which it originated. Basically it gets shoved into the air so that it loses contact with the ground.

Significance

By knowing the force of gravity, the initial force and the launch angle you can determine to within a certain accuracy how far an object will fly.

Extreme Angles

The highest launch angle you can get is 90 degrees. This angle will launch straight up. If the body being launched does not have enough force to escape the atmosphere and there are no other forces on it, it will fall right back to its starting point. The other extreme angle is 0 degrees and this means that the shot is perfect perpendicular to the ground, if you launched at this angle the body would almost immediately hit the ground.

References

• Prentice hall: Chapter 4: Two-Dimensional Kinematics