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Physics Applied to The Real World: The Female Canon

Jennifer Smith is known for her unconventional career path and upbringing. Commonly known as "The Canon Lady", Smith travels the world to be shot out of a real canon at county fairs, festivals, and amusement parks. This out of the ordinary practice isn't unknown to Smith. 

The proud projectile is a second generation cannonball to her father, Dave "Cannonball" Smith, a Guinness World Record holder. Her father's record holding practice influenced Jennifer, her older sister, and her brother to also become human projectiles. At just 13 years old, Smith demanded to be shot into the world of human projectiles, just like the rest of her family. 

As fun and entertaining The Canon Lady is as a circus performance or an attraction at a fair, extreme measurements of trajectory and projectile motion must be taken. Just a few degrees higher or lower than intended could be detrimental to Smith, causing her to land just a few feet shy of the safety net. 

So what does happen in an applied physics sense? Smith is a 1.57 meter projectile, being shot out of the cannon 18.29 meters in the air before landing in a 19 foot by 52 inch net 38.1 meters away. "In a split second, I go from standing still to flying in the air (Meet 'The Cannon Lady')."

Jennifer performing her very calculated stunt

The cannon Smith performs her stunt with is 8 meters long, and launched with a velocity of 19.44 m/s with a 40-45 degree angle in order to get the furthest range of projectile motion. Depending on the distance of the net in relation to the cannon, Smith has to set the cannon at an exact angle in order to land safely. 

Jennifer Smith's articulate measurements and calculations directly relate to lab's we have done, and seen for ourselves, in physics class. For us, the textbook in the 'Shoot to Win' lab is our 'safety net'. Just like Smith and other human cannonballs, we had to calculate where to put our 'safety net' in order for our projectile to land safely. The math and calculations we did in class are the same calculation's Smith does in order for her to know how to angle her cannon and place her safety net. 

Essentially, just as we had one chance to hit the textbook with the projectile, Smith also gets once chance to hit the safety net as a projectile. 


Sources:
Meet Jennifer Schneider, the Cannon Lady of the Calgary Stampede
Mom's the bomb! Meet 'The Cannon Lady'
Cannon Lady Video



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