ERIC Number: EJ876095
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jan
Pages: 3
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
The Effective Mass of a Ball in the Air
Messer, J.; Pantaleone, J.
Physics Teacher, v48 n1 p52-54 Jan 2010
The air surrounding a projectile affects the projectile's motion in three very different ways: the drag force, the buoyant force, and the added mass. The added mass is an increase in the projectile's inertia from the motion of the air around it. Here we experimentally measure the added mass of a spherical projectile in air. The results agree well with the calculation of the added mass for an ideal fluid. By accounting for the added mass, high school or undergraduate students can easily measure the acceleration of gravity accurately with a beach ball projectile.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, High Schools, Motion, Scientific Concepts, Evaluation Methods, Computation, Science Instruction, Physics, Universities
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A