Compressed Air Cannon Physics

Compressed air cannon this instructable will guide you through the steps to build a basic air powered cannon to launch things such as water balloons or t shirts.

Compressed air cannon physics. The use of compressed air cannons in an undergraduate lab provides a way to illustrate the cooperation of diverse physics concepts such as conservation of momentum the work kinetic energy. However it is not. Air cannons launch a variety of projectiles. They are a great experiment to demonstrate projectile motion.

Potatoes rockets or anything that can fit inside the barrel. Engineers use air cannons in the design of paintball guns and air soft guns. Both require the use of co2 canisters to provide the air to shoot the paintball or the pelets. A pneumatic launcher or air cannon is basically a device that uses compressed air to launch something.

Measurements for the air tank and barrel lengths found in steps 2 and 3 are the dimensions that we found to work well but are meant only as guidelines. The use of compressed air cannons in an undergraduate laboratory provides a way to illustrate the connection between diverse physics concepts such as conservation of momentum the work kinetic energy theorem gas expansion air drag and elementary newtonian mechanics.