Here you will find the code for a fun, little game I worked on for Physics students and projectile motion enthusiasts to play with and learn more about the Physics concepts behind projectile motion. The game was developed using Khan Academy's Processing.js programming platform. I first came across Khan Academy and their online programming curriculum when I was volunteering as a teacher with Girls Who Code. At the time, they were using Khan Academy as their primary teaching tool. While I was preparing my own lessons for Girls Who Code, I started digging deeper into the platform and taking all of Khan Academy's online programming lessons so I could have a better understanding of all the tools available to me. My explorations and tinkering led to the development of The Magnificent Old Spice Man: Monster Cannonball Extraordinaire.
If you want to see the code "in production" and give the game a test drive, you can click HERE. Also, if you want to see a quick demo, you can click HERE.
- Our Monster Cannonball, played by our reluctant daredevil, Old Spice Man
, will be shot from the cannon when you click on the "FIRE" button. You can set the initial speed of Mr. Spice and the angle of the cannon's barrel with the provided controls.
- You will only have 1 chance to shoot Mr. Spice into the pool or leave him with a terrible headache. The pool will move every time you restart the game.
- To save Mr. Spice some pain, harness some of your knowledge of projectile motion to calculate what combination of the cannon angle and Mr. Spice's initial velocity will allow him to travel the given distance in meters to the pool.
- There are 2 switches when turned "ON" that will give you some interesting information about Mr. Spice's flight:
- Launch Data: This will give you data about Mr. Spice's velocity and displacement at different points in time on the journey.
- Vectors: When this switch is turned on, you will get a cool visualization of the direction and magnitude of the velocity at the same points in time as the "Launch Data", only now in vector form.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When making your calculations, you can assume that air friction will have no effect on Mr. Spice's motion.
If you need some refreshers on projectile motion here are some Khan Academy lessons on the Physics and equations behind one dimensional and two dimensional motion. Also, here you can find out more about the very useful range equation of projectile motion.