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

Comments

Physics of Sound Dampeners and Active Noise Cancellation

Physics of Sound Dampeners and Active Noise Cancellation Sound dampening foam panels in a recording studio. ANC headphones worn by pilots and/or passengers in consumer aviation aircraft. Acoustic treatment of soundscapes has grown alongside the sound production industry. Whether through absorption panels, diffusors and cloud panels to treat a space or headphones placed directly over the ears of listeners, acoustic treatment comes in many forms. Environments are treated acoustically to absorb excess sound to prevent sound levels from crossing a threshold above which the desired goal cannot be had. Before getting into sound dampening, we must discuss sound. Sound is produced when an object vibrates (a form of oscillation) and temporarily displaces nearby air molecules causing a wave effect as the displaced molecules collide with their neighboring molecules. Sound waves are fluctuations in pressure as the initial displacement of molecules experiences collisions that in ...

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC is the largest machine in the world. It took thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians decades to plan and build, and it continues to operate at the very boundaries of scientific knowledge. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. Map of LHC (located in Geneva, Switzerland) Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beams around the accelerator. Just prior to collision, another type of magnet is used to "squeeze" the particles closer together to increase the chances of collisions. The particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is akin to firing two needles 10 kilometres apart with suc...

Aerodynamics of a Golf Ball

One may wonder how a small golf ball can travel at incredibly high speeds for such long distances. While the swing of the club is a major component, the structure of the golf ball is quite important. Unlike a baseball or tennis ball, a golf ball has dimples all over it (usually 336 dimples). These dimples allow the golf ball to travel without facing much air resistance. This diagram shows how air travels around the golf ball. The dimples on the golf ball also prevent drag that would occur in the wake region, resulting in further distance. Also due to the contact with the club during the swing, the golf ball has backspin during its entire flight. This diagram shows the motion of the golf ball mid flight with the lift force of F. There are hundreds of different types of golf balls that a player can choose. Some show little affect to a player's game while others can alter their performance completely. Personally, I prefer Callaway Supers...

LSA E Mech 2017-18

Search This Blog