skip to main content

You Are Here: Home / Learning / Science, Technology and Nature / Mathematical Thinking / Trajectory
 
Mathematical thinking
 

Trajectory

 
On target on a dartboard
On target on a dartboard

Getting their wings

Military design has been inspired by the structure of butterfly wings, and their appearance - far from flights of fancy.

Why is trajectory important?

By looking at the final resting position of the structure after failure it is sometimes possible to work backwards and identify the area of failure.

For example, if a failure at the bottom of the columns brought the bridge down then we would expect it to fall together, largely in one piece. So the girder should land the same horizontal distance away from the column break as it was originally away from the break point vertically. The following trajectory interactive feature applies this to the famous Tay Bridge Disaster.

Tay Bridge

Open the trajectory interactive

This feature requires Flash. If you don't have the latest version of that software on your computer, click here to get Flash

Content last updated: 03/04/2002

 
 
 

Explore Open2

Penguin

Two members of the Life team go in search of penguins in their natural environment. See what they find on Deception Island.

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Would you say you're a Christian? Share your views, and learn about the views of others, in our new Christianity survey.

Breaking news, 1940s style

Keep up to date with our Twitterfeeds of latest news from Open2 and alerts of OU programmes on the BBC.

 
 

Site info and help