Annie Oakley

PIRA: 1D60.40

Overview:

Annie Oakley was able to perform a trick where she would always be able to hit a quarter that was thrown into the air. She was able to do this because of the physics behind gravity. Since everything is affected by gravity equally, that means the trajectory of a bullet will fall at the same rate that a stationary object would. Using this knowledge, Annie was able to reliably hit quarters when she fired directly at them when they reached their apex.

Materials:

Nerf gun, tin “coin”, nerf bullets, assistant

Setup:

Place materials on a table.

How to:

Load the nerf gun. Ask the volunteer to throw the “coin” into the air while giving it a little bit of a spin. Make sure it is thrown with one of the faces normal to the projectile’s path.

Safety:

Do not shoot at anyone.