Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

I need to hypothesise re: the following:

A shot-putter throws an Orange and a Lemon. Which will travel furthest?

Can anybody help with this please? (I've tried looking up Soccer Vs. Rugby ball but no luck)

Thanks for your time

Hi niceties,

Hypotheses are defined in https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... esis.shtml

From that page: "After having thoroughly researched your question, you should have some educated guess about how things work. This educated guess about the answer to your question is called the hypothesis."

I do not know if research is going to help here. Just looking at the oranges and lemons, one suspects that if one just hurls the objects like a shot-putter:
The orange will go further since it's spherical.
There are two values for the lemon, one for each of the orientations of the lemon (pointy side first and flat side first).

One can also toss the lemon like a football, which may make it go further.
Again one value for the orange and two values for the lemon.
Here one suspects that tossing the lemon like a football will make it go further.

Overall one suspects that the largest distance is tossing the lemon like a football.

All the above can be tested.

Thanks Dave,

The reason I said that I needed to hypothesise is that, I can't imagine there being any difference between the 2 fruits (in a real life application).

As the person throwing the fruit is a shot-putter, I assumed he would be throwing both fruit in the manner of a shot-putter, thus eliminating the possibility of throwing the Lemon like an American Football (as you suggested).

The reason I'm asking this is because I have been asked by my sister-in-law, who is researching for a new television show. Basically, she will have a 100+ audience, to whom she will give facts about the aerodynamics of an Orange & a Lemon, before asking them to vote which will travel farthest. (pretty boring-sounding TV show, I know!) She just needed a few scientific(ish) facts re: the aerodynamics (or anything else for that matter) of the fruit, to tell them!

Thanks again for your time!

Hi niceties,

So your hypothesis is that thrown like a shot-put, there is no difference. I thought there might be since the orange is spherical and more stable when thrown. The lemon might wobble and not go as far. Rather than making assumptions, the only way to know is to test!

Also, the shot-putters may be able to throw the fruit like an American football. Again, here rather than making assumptions, test!

Cheers!

Dave

P.S.: Where are you located? In the U.S., we just call it a football, rather than an American football. Outside the U.S., isn't a football a soccer-ball?

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your time again m8! I know it was a bit of a silly question in the first place but thanks for taking the time to reply.

I am in the UK so I refer to Soccer as 'Football' (much like the entire planet save for the USA ... LOL).

Anyway, the ball used in a good old game of Gridiron is rarely touched with the foot so I think maybe you guys should consider renaming your game!!!

All the best anyway m8

Hi niceties,

Good point! Handball is already taken by another sport.

Good luck on your project!

Hi,

does it need to be an orange vs. a lemon? Assuming the shotputter can throw it consistently, the only variable I can think of is shape if air resistance is sufficient

Here is the equation for the drag force equation

F = (1/2) (ρ) (u^2) (CD) (A)

where

FD is the force of drag, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity
ρ is the mass density of the fluid,
u is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid,
A is the reference area, and
CD is the drag coefficient — a dimensionless constant