Newton's Mountain Cannon

Change the speed of a cannonball fired horizontally from the top of a mountain. Can you make the cannonball go into orbit about the earth?
Hit the "fire" button to fire the cannon. Use the slider to change the speed of the cannonball.

(Note: This simulation assumes the Earth has no atmosphere, so there is no friction with the air that will make the cannonball lose energy.)

Programming: Drew Dolgert
Owner and contact: Michael Fowler - mf1i@virginia.edu
Date: August 1997
Version: 1.0
Distribution: Gnu Public License
Language: Java 1.0
Description: Newton described the possible trajectories of a cannonball shot from a tall
mountain. The applet lets the user fire cannonballs at different velocities from a tall mountain.