Area of the position graph of the Golf Ball (displacement).


Position Graph of the Golf Club



Golf Club Velocity Graph (1 dimension)

    The velocity of the golf ball increased at the instant of the hit, as the  force of the club was applied on it. After the hit, the velocity remained constant because the slope of the line of the position graph was constant. We measured this using the x-axis values, however it was necessary to change the direction of the x-axis to a diagonal line to track the golf ball's position and velocity. In the case of the golf club, velocity was constant throughout the swing and even still upon impact with the golf ball. The slope of this line was also constant and remained at an increase all the way until the follow through after the hit. And. because of this constant velocity, the acceleration is zero.

    The highest one dimensional velocity of the hit was 36.51 m/s for the golf ball. For the golf club, however, the highest velocity was -14.56 m/s, as the swing was in a negative, or downward, direction.

    In the case of the golf ball, velocity changed upon impact. Before the impact, the ball was still, with a velocity of zero. But, upon impact with the club, the velocity increased reaching its highest point at 18.12 m/s. The impact of the club caused the ball to move from its resting position and to have a constant velocity for the several meters it traveled. For the club, there was not a change in velocity during the swing. It remained constant even upon impact with the golf ball. This impact only caused a change for the golf ball.

 

    For the golf ball, acceleration was present since the velocity was not constant, but acceleration was not constant either. Our velocity graph is not a straight diagonal line. The acceleration for for ball is 35.681 m/s2. The area under the graph was close but not equal to the change in velocity.

    Approaching this using two dimensional motion shows a difference. The swing of the golf club is an example of circular motion. Therefore, to find a more accurate acceleration, we had to solve for the centripetal acceleration. In order to do this, we found the club's velocity at two points, 3.173 m/s, squared it, and put it over the radius, which we measured to be about 1.10 meters. This is the length of her wrists and the club. From there, using the formula v2/r, we calculated centripetal acceleration. It is 9.15 m/s/s.