Physics of WiiSports Tennis

Equations of motion for an object moving in two dimensions

(Autoplay and pause at 0:21) What happens next?How does the software decide?

Realistic games

In order for games to appear realistic the programmers have to use what's called a physics engine, a piece of software that uses physics to find out what happens next. We all know that if you hit a tennis ball it doesn't keep going in a straight line, but what does happen? 

Think and Talk

Task

We can all describe roughly what will happen to the ball but the game needs to respond very precisely to small changes in how fast it is hit or in what direction it is hit. Your task today is to find the equations of motion for an object moving in two dimensions. To keep it simple we will not include concepts like air resistance or spin. Do we include horizontal projection or go straight to v at an angle? We will try to use these equations in a very simple simulation to see if they match real life.