Shutterstock/Alex Desanshe
Aiming a hosepipe, intuition told me a 45-degree angle would maximise the distance travelled by the water, as it would for a projectile. But when I did this, the water actually went a shorter distance. Why?
Graham Smith
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Isaac Newton used calculus to prove that, in the absence of air resistance, a fired cannonball travels in a symmetrical arch shape, or parabolic path, and he showed that maximum range is achieved by launching the ball at a 45-degree angle. As a cannonball has a very high momentum and experiences a relatively low air resistance, artillery crews have…
