Discipline: Mathematics and Statistics
Subcategory: Mathematics and Statistics
Session: 1
Room: Tyler
Willie Reynolds - Savannah State University
Co-Author(s): N/A
This research studies the motion of a ball in Mathematics when it is thrown in a three-dimensional parabolic space. Considering only the gravity acting on the ball, the free-fall position function is written as a vector valued function which takes the time variable t as an input and returns an output vector ⟨p_x (t),p_y (t),p_z (t)⟩. The contact event of the ball with the wall enforces to changes the moving direction of it based on the reflection theory of light, and the returned speed depends on the Coefficients of Restitution (COR) of the ball and wall. All sequential procedures are mathematically analyzed step by step, and the resultant piecewise position function is simulated/animated in MATLAB. With various CORs of the ball, we confirm that the increase of COR results in the increase of jumps in it.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): The Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participations (PSLSAMP)
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hyounkyun Oh, hoh@savannahstate.edu
Role: I completed all areas of the research.