How High Will It Fly? : Simulator Instructions

Student Pages | Background information | SportSim

General Instructions

The upper left side of the software has an overhead picture of the court or field, while the upper right side has a side view of a tennis court. You can change variables by clicking the 'sport' and 'location' buttons, or using the sliders on the right.

Original

Clicking on original returns the simulator to its original values:

  • Location - London,
  • Altitude - 0 metres,
  • Spin - 0 rpm,
  • Speed - 145 km/hour (90 mph),
  • Height - 2.1 metres.

Sport

Choose either tennis or baseball using the buttons on the left. Why do you think a tennis ball behaves differently to a baseball?

Units

You can change the units by pulling down the menu and selecting Metric or Imperial.

Location

How do you think the path of your ball will change at different altitudes? Try it out! You can select a location or specify an altitude by pulling down the "location" menu. Choose London (sea level), Mexico City (2300 metres) or Mount Everest (8800 metres) or enter an altitude after selecting "Your Choice" on the Location Menu.

Height

You can use the slider or enter the height at which the racket makes contact with the ball.

Position

You can use the slider or enter how far you are from the centre line.

Speed

You can use the slider or enter how fast the ball initially travels.

Spin

You can use the slider or enter the spin rate in revolutions per minute. Use positive (+) numbers for backspin and negative (-) numbers for topspin.

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