p. 1

physics of projectile motion how monkeys fit in

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p. 2

history in the past · problems were set where a monkey dropped from a tree and the student had to work out the angle a gun would be fired at to shoot the monkey in the present · now it is not acceptable to shoot the monkey so we fire a banana for the monkey to catch.

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p. 3

the problem scenario · if there was gravity acting upon both the monkey and the banana the usual situation then what would happen if the banana was thrown at the monkey with a slow speed what paths would the banana and the monkey take would the banana fall below the straight-line path and hit the monkey as the monkey drops from the tree or would the banana not have enough speed to hit the monkey as it was falling presumably because the monkey would fall faster than the slow banana answer · the banana moves in a parabolic path in the presence of gravity in the presence of gravity the monkey also accelerates downward once he lets go of the limb both banana and monkey experience the same acceleration since gravity causes all objects to accelerate at the same rate regardless of their mass since both banana and monkey experience the same acceleration each will fall equal amounts below their gravity-free path thus the banana hits the monkey since the banana left the muzzle moving very slow the banana reaches the monkey after the monkey has fallen considerably far in conclusion the key to the zookeeper s dilemma is to aim directly at the monkey.

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