Mechanical assignment PDF

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Mechanical assignment...

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Engineering 1 – Mechanical Engineering Assignment ‘Megawoosh’ is a highly viewed YouTube clip – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwh4ZaxHIA. It shows a rubber-suited daredevil sliding down a water slide, off a ramp and flying across a valley to land safely in a small pool of water. Although this video has been exposed as a fake, you are engaged by a TV company to design a test to do this for real. The equipment available to you consists of a long metal slope at an angle of 40° and a frictionless launch ramp sited 100 m from the nearest edge of a 5 m diameter pool (see Figure below). The ramp launch angle is adjustable and the ramp is sufficiently short that it can be ignored in calculations. The launch point at the end of the ramp is at the same height as the top of the pool. Your ‘test pilot’ will wear a nylon suit so that the kinetic coefficient of friction with the metal slope is only 0.2. Air resistance may be ignored.

a)

Determine the launch angle θ that gives the minimum launch speed from the ramp sufficient to reach the pool. Calculate this speed and the time of flight.

(6)

b)

What is the minimum length of slope S required for the pilot to land in the pool?

(6)

c)

The test pilot wants some margin for error in reaching the pool. How much further up the slope can they start their run before they risk overshooting the pool?

(3)

Explain potential improvements to the experiment that would allow the necessary length of slope to be reduced.

(2)

In reality, the ‘test pilot’ is subject to air resistance. Briefly explain the impact this will have on the optimal launch speed and angle.

(3)

d)

e)

Not to scale Slope Length, S Launch point

Pool 5m

40° Launch Angle θ

100 m

Figure 1: Basic human projectile experiment...