17 May
2017
17 May
'17
6:45 p.m.
Everybody knows that, in vacuo, 45º elevation maximizes projectile range. Trick question: Given our atmosphere, is the range maximized by > or < 45º? SPOILER. Baseball: <. Cannonball: >. Well, long long distance artillery anyway. The idea is to fly above the denser, low level atmosphere. This raises the interesting question: Are there projectile densities and energies for which the range improves for elevations both > and < 45º? --rwg