Updated February 20, 2006

Here's an idea for you... using digital video to aide in projectile studies. Many physics teachers take their students outside to throw around projectiles, taking measurements of flight time and range. However, these measurements can be supplemented in an interesting way by using a video camera to film student's throws, or the launching of rockets.

What are the benefits of filming? There are several!

• Students get a real kick out of seeing themselves launching the projectiles, but they also have the opportunity to view their throws several times in order to study trajectory.

• Students can pause video in order to make reasonable estimates of launch angle. This allows students to compare the angle of launch derived from calculations to the launch angle they estimated. This leads to very interesting discrepancies with objects that float or are aerodynamic that produce longer flight times than their range would indicate.
• Digital video can be manipulated to get a better view of events that happen too fast. For example, I used Apple's iMovie and a digital camera to record and then slow down the launch of a rocket so it could be studied more easily. *Note... iMovie is ridiculously easy to use, I produced the following Quicktime clip that involves clip reversals and speed changes in about 10 minutes;