1 / 14

The Science of Ballistics: Mathematics Serving the Dark Side

The Science of Ballistics: Mathematics Serving the Dark Side. William W. (Bill) Hackborn University of Alberta, Augustana Campus. Ballistics and its Context. Ballistics (coined by Mersenne, 1644) is physical science, technology, and a tool of war [Hall, 1952].

nerea-lawrence
Download Presentation

The Science of Ballistics: Mathematics Serving the Dark Side

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Science of Ballistics:Mathematics Serving the Dark Side William W. (Bill) Hackborn University of Alberta, Augustana Campus CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  2. Ballistics and its Context • Ballistics (coined by Mersenne, 1644) is physical science, technology, and a tool of war [Hall, 1952]. • Science consists of interior ballistics (inside the barrel) and exterior ballistics (after leaving the barrel). • Interior ballistics involves chemistry and physics, the thermodynamics of combustion and an expanding gas. Exterior ballistics involves the physics of a projectile moving through a resisting medium. • Tension between science, technology, and gunnery. • Affected by interrelations among scientists, engineers, industry, the military, and the state [Hall, 1952]. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  3. Niccolò Fontana (Tartaglia) • Mathematical fame from priority dispute with G. Cardano over cubic equation (1547-48). • The New Science (1537) deals with ballistics. • Designed gunner’s quadrant. • Claimed maximum range at 45º. • Aristotelian and medieval baggage (violent and natural motion, impetus). • Had qualms about improving “such a damnable exercise”. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  4. Galileo • Did experiments on motion, culminating in law of falling bodies (in a vacuum) and parabolic path of a projectile (ca. 1609). Published in Discourses on Two New Sciences (1638). • Professor in Pisa and Venice. Became “mathematician and philosopher” to Cosimo de Medici in 1611. • Recognized role of air resistance in causing “deformation in the [parabolic] path of a projectile”, but … • Thought parabolic theory still valid for low-velocity mortar ballistics, and included range tables in Discourses. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  5. Toricelli • Galileo’s “last and favourite pupil” [Hall, 1952]. • Clarified Galileo’s results in Geometrical Works (1644). • Expressed range as r = R sin 2Φ, where R is maximum range; designed related instrument. • Dealt with cases where target is above/below gun and where gun is mounted on a fortification or carriage. • Corresponded with G. B. Renieri (1647) on unexpected point-blank vs. maximum range, etc. [Segre, 1983].  conflict of theory vs. practice CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  6. Huygens • Used period of a pendulum to determine gravitational acceleration, g = 981 cm/s2(1664). • Experiments on motion in a resisting medium (1669): • jet of water impinging on one side of a balance scale • block of wood pulled by weighted cord through water • air screens on two wheeled carts, one pulled at twice the speed • Concluded that resisting force at speed V is given by FR= kV2, analogous to Galileo’s law of falling bodies. • Abandoned attempt to determine trajectory of projectile subject to this square law of resistance. [Hall, 1952] • Found trajectory of projectile moving in a medium whose resistance varies as projectile’s velocity (as did Newton). CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  7. Newton • Principia (1687) has 40 propositions on motion in resisting mediums, investigated experimentally and mathematically. • Concluded that resistance associated with fluid density is FR= kV2, but resistance may have other components too. • Found projectile trajectory when resistance varies as the projectile’s speed: FR /m= f (V) = kV. • Partially analyzed trajectory whenf (V) = kV2. [Hall, 1952] CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  8. Johann Bernoulli • Solved ballistics problem for f (V)= kVn in response to a challenge from Oxford astronomer John Keill (1719) [Hall, 1952]. • Formulation of the problem: • Bernoulli’s 1721 solution [Routh, 1898]: Letting p = tan θ, where θ is the inclination angle, yields CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  9. How Significant is Air Resistance? • Consider a shot-put, terminal velocity 145 m/s [Long & Weiss, 1999], projected at 170 m/s at launch angle 45º. • Q denotes Quadratic Drag, i.e. f (V)= kV2. • The small inclination approximation [Hackborn, 2005] is CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  10. The Ballistics Revolution • Benjamin Robins wrote New Principles of Gunnery (1642). • Invented ballistics pendulum for measuring musket ball velocities. [Steele, 1994] • Did foundational work in interior ballistics. • Discovered Robins effect and sound barrier. • Euler translated and added commentary to New Principles, at request of Frederick the Great (1745). • Euler analyzed projectile trajectory subject to the square law of resistance, calculated range tables for one family (1753). • von Graevenitz published more extensive tables (1764); still sometimes used in World War II [McShane et al, 1953]. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  11. Late 19th Century to World War I • Air resistance per unit mass described by where H(y) = e-.0003399y, air density ratio at height y feet, G(V) = kVn-1, Gâvre drag function, C = m/λd2, the ballistics coefficient, λ = form factor specific to projectile shape. • Gâvre function (named after French commission) found experimentally. Mayevski’s version (1883) [Bliss, 1944]: CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  12. Late 19th Century to World War I (continued) • The method of small arcs often used for trajectories. • F. Siacci, at Turin Military Academy, developed an approximate method for low trajectories with small inclinations, less than about 20º (ca. 1880) [Bliss, 1944]. • Siacci’s method adapted for use in U.S. by Col. J. Ingalls, resulting in Artillery Circular M (1893, 1918), still sometimes used in World War II [McShane et al, 1953]. • Siacci’s method accurate to O(Φ4), launch angle Φ. • Littlewood, 2nd Lt. in RGA, developed anti-aircraft method. Improved Siacci’s method to O(Φ6) and high trajectories, accurate to 20 feet in 60000 for Φ = 30 º [Littlewood, 1972]. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  13. Roles of Governments and the Military • Extensive testing was done (e.g. Woolwich, Aberdeen). • Governments in England, Prussia, and France soon included work of Robins, Euler, etc. in military and university curricula (e.g. École Polytechnique). • Napoléon, a young artillery lieutenant, wrote a 12-page summary of Robins’ and Euler’s research in 1788. • Ballistics tables/tools used on battlefields [Steele, 1994]. • O. Veblen took command of office of experimental ballistics at new ($73 million) Aberdeen Proving Ground (Jan. 1918). • N. Wiener worked as a computer at Aberdeen, and later observed that the “the overwhelming majority of significant American mathematicians … had gone through the discipline of the Proving Ground” [Grier, 2001]. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

  14. Other Social Issues • The (mis)use of mathematical and human potential: • Time lost, opportunities missed, e.g. Ramanujan. • Time, talent wasted on “such a damnable exercise”. • ICBMs, ABMs, and SDI: • Government grants in the mathematical sciences. • Resistance to “Star Wars” in the Reagan years. • When Computers Were Human [Grier, 2005]: • Women in the mathematical work force. • Women in university mathematics and related professions. • ENIAC, silicon chips, and computing technology. CSHPM/SCHPM Annual Meeting

More Related