Adam Shuler 01/02/20

Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Shoot the Monkey

Vocabulary: acceleration, free fall, trajectory, vector, velocity

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

Eccentric billionaire Veda Hussert has invented a “banana cannon” to help feed the monkeys on
her personal wildlife preserve. To feed a monkey high in the trees, simply aim the cannon at the
monkey and fire a banana! Unfortunately, the noise of the cannon frightens the monkeys, and
they drop out of the tree when they hear the sound.

1. To hit a falling monkey with a banana, where should Veda aim? (Circle your choice.)

A. Above the monkey B. Below the monkey C. Directly at the monkey

The banana will hit the monkey as it falls.

2. Explain your choice: ________________________________________________________

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Gizmo Warm-up
The Shoot the Monkey Gizmo™ shows Veda’s
banana cannon and a monkey.

1. Click Play ( ) to fire the cannon.

The banana will go above.
What happens? _________________________

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2. You can use the sliders to change the banana velocity (vInitial) and cannon angle (θ). (You
can also drag the cannon barrel.) Make adjustments until the monkey catches the banana.
30 for velocity, 33 for degrees
What were the velocity and angle that you used? __________________________________

3. Now try increasing and decreasing the velocity. Assuming the banana is moving fast enough
to reach the tree, does the monkey still catch the banana? Describe your findings.
Yes, the banana reaches the monkey incredibly quickly
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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
• Click Reset ( ).
Banana catchers
• Set the initial velocity (vInitial) to 26.0 m/s.

Question: Where should you aim to hit the monkey with a banana?

1. Experiment: Turn on Show target line. Experiment with the Gizmo, trying several different
cannon locations and launch angles. Try aiming above, below, and directly at the monkey.

A. What always happens when you aim above the monkey’s head? _______________
I miss.
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B. What always happens when you aim below the monkey’s feet? _________________
I miss.
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C. What always happens when you aim at the monkey’s body? ___________________
I hit.
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2. Predict: How do you think changing the banana velocity will affect your results? __________
The velocity will change how quickly the banana will reach the monkey.
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3. Test: Click Reset. Turn on Show grid, and drag the cannon to the point (25, 0.0) on the
grid. Aim the cannon at the monkey, and try vInitial values of 15.0, 20.0, 25.0, and 30.0 m/s.

How did the banana velocity affect the results of the experiment? _____________________
The velocity changed nothing
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4. Observe: Click Reset, and turn on Show path. Drag the cannon to (0.0, 15.5) so that it is at
the same level as the monkey. Set vInitial to 25.0 m/s, and θ to 0.0 degrees. Click Play.

The lines represent the trajectories, or paths, of the banana and monkey. The dots on the
lines show positions every 0.15 seconds. Compare the dots for the banana and monkey.

A. What do you notice about the height of the dots on each trajectory? _____________
The spread apart the closer to the ground that they get.
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B. At any given time, what can you say about the heights of the banana and monkey?
if the monkey can catch the banana, then velocities greater than or equal to 15 do nothing to change the catching frequency.
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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
• Click Reset, and drag the cannon to the ground.
Velocity vectors • Turn off Show grid and Show path.
• You will need a scientific calculator for this activity.

Introduction: Velocity is an example of a vector quantity because it describes the speed and
direction of an object. The velocity of an object through space can be shown by two
components: a horizontal component (vx) and a vertical component (vy).

Question: How does the velocity of an object change as it flies through space?

1. Observe: Turn on Show velocity vectors, and set θ to 45.0 degrees. Click Play, and focus
on the blue and red arrows that represent the vertical and horizontal components of the
banana’s velocity.

A. As the banana flies through space, what do you notice about the blue (vertical)
The blue line will shrink.
arrow? _____________________________________________________________

B. As the banana flies through space, what do you notice about the red (horizontal)
The red arrow does not change shape or position.
arrow? _____________________________________________________________
Yes.
C. Try other velocities and launch angles. Do these results hold up? _______________

2. Calculate: You can use trigonometry to find the initial horizontal and vertical components of
the banana’s velocity. Take out your calculator now. Click Reset, and turn off Show
velocity vectors. Set vInitial to 20.0 m/s and θ to 60.0 degrees.
10 m/s
A. To calculate vx, multiply vInitial by the cosine of the angle: vx = vInitial • cos(θ): _______
17 m/s
B. To calculate vy, multiply vInitial by the sine of the angle: vy = vInitial • sin(θ): _______
Yes.
C. Turn on Show velocity vectors to check. Were you correct? __________________

3. Analyze: An object flying through the air is said to be in free fall. As you observed, the
horizontal component of velocity (vx) does not change as the object moves, but the vertical
component (vy) decreases over time. (Note: Air resistance is not included in this model.)
Gravity.
A. What force causes vy to change as the banana travels? _______________________

B. Why doesn’t vx change as the object travels? (Hint: Are there any horizontal forces
There is no air resistance, signaling
on the banana after it leaves the cannon?) _________________________________
that nothing is pushing back on the red line.
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(Activity B continued on next page)

Activity B (continued from previous page)

4. Set up Gizmo: Acceleration is a change in velocity. Both the banana and monkey undergo
a downward acceleration due to the force of gravity. To calculate the acceleration of a falling
object, divide the velocity change by the time interval.

a = (vCurrent - vInitial) / t

Check that vInitial is set to 20.0 m/s and θ to 60.0 degrees. Record the initial vertical velocity
of the banana and monkey in the first row of the table below.

Time vy (banana) vy (monkey)

0.00 10 17

3.34 9.43 -15.51

5. Gather data: Click Play, and then click Pause before the monkey and banana hit the ground
(or each other). Record the time, vy (banana), and vy (monkey) in the second row of the
table above.

6. Calculate: For each object, calculate the velocity difference by subtracting the initial velocity
from the final velocity (your answer should be a negative number). Then divide these
numbers by the time to find the acceleration of each object. (Units of acceleration are m/s2.)
0.57 32.51
Banana velocity change: __________ Monkey velocity change: __________
0.17 9.7
Banana acceleration: __________ Monkey acceleration: __________

7. Analyze: What do you notice about the banana’s and monkey’s acceleration? ___________
The accelerations are very different by a lot because the monkey is going with gravity and the banana is going against gravity.
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8. Think and discuss: Based on what you have learned about velocity and acceleration in this
lesson, why should you aim directly at the monkey if you want it to catch the banana?
Because the banana will fall a certain distance before reaching the monkey, so the best
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approach is to shoot right at him, because by the time it comes in line with him vertically,
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it will have aligned horizontwally.
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