cannons shoot stuff

Currently, in the wonderful physics class of Mr. Chung, we are required to prepare cannons that fire STUFF out of just cans and duct tape. How? Well I don't really know but here is what i do know about cannons:


-Cannons shoot stuff to cause DESTRUCTION
Throughout history, cannons have been pretty much the oldest style of artillery fire used for warfare. They fire heavy objects at incredible speeds, (Force=mass x acceleration according to Newton) which means that they fire with a lot of force. Therefore, they have the capability to do incredible damage.


-The ammunition for a cannon should be round and smooth.
Throughout history, the ammunition used for cannons have evolved for a simple cannonball (just as the name suggests it's a sphere...) to missile shaped objects. The reason for this is because the object that is utilized has to counteract air resistance as good as possible to fire the longest distance possible at the greatest speed possible. Round and smooth objects can carve through the air better than boxy and bumpy objects.


-Kinematics equation for Range is a good equation to use to determine the maximum distance the cannon can fire.

(d=V1²sin2θ/g)

-Cannons should be placed at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal to maximize the distance fired.

This is because increasing the angle will increase airtime for the projectile while the angle can't be increased too much since it won't fire forward anymore. For example, if the cannon is pointed at over 90 degrees, the projectile will fire backwards (into your own people...) while a 90 degree angle will cause the projectile to fire straight up (and it lands into your own people...) and an angle higher than 45 degrees won't have as much of a velocity in the x-axis. This means to achieve the most ideal distance, a 45 degree angle should be utilized.