In a time of increasingly realistic games, the more the physics of the virtual world resembles the physics of the real world, the more challenging and authentic the experience.

In the Battlefield game series, for example, players can take on roles such as engineer, support, or even sniper. Issues like projectile drop and travel time must be taken into account by the player.

However, in the real world, being a sniper is much more complex than in the virtual world. You need to have total control over your breathing, lower your heart rate as much as possible, and know precisely the distance and firing angle to the target. You need to know the temperature, speed, and direction of the wind. Any error can be disastrous, any distraction can be fatal. Elite shooters are highly trained individuals who follow with attention and synchrony the unfolding of a plot involving hostages.

To become a sniper here in Brazil, you need to be an experienced police officer, have above-average aim, be psychologically balanced, have no vices, be able to make physical calculations quickly and accurately, and most importantly, have a lot of training. The work is usually done in pairs, where one of the combatants is the shooter and the other is the observer, who is also an elite shooter and reveals all the variables of the situation. The record for the longest successful sniper shot is held by a Canadian special forces soldier. The projectile was fired from a distance of 3.5 km from the target and took just under 10s to hit it.

The farther the target is, the greater the level of imprecision of the shot. The two biggest variables, although not the only ones, that affect a projectile’s flight are wind and gravity. Regarding gravity, a classic question in college entrance exams and textbook exercises on launches is: Given two identical objects at the same height, while one is simply dropped, the other is launched horizontally forward, which of the two will reach the ground first?

The answer to this question is simple, they will both arrive at the same time. This is an excellent experiment to be performed in the classroom, filming the trajectory of the objects with cameras in slow motion mode. When it comes to rifle shooting, despite the high power of the shot (firing speed 3500 km/h), the projectile is dragged down by gravity in the same way as the projectile that was simply dropped. Depending on the distance a sniper is from their target, snipers need to precisely compensate for this drop. For every half second of estimated travel to the target, for a shot parallel to the ground, an approximate drop of 1.20 m in height can be considered. The direction and speed of the wind also have a great impact. If the wind is blowing parallel to the shot, no adjustment will have to be made. However, if it is, for example, blowing at a 45° angle from right to left with a speed of 5km/h, the shot needs to be adjusted by about 35cm if the distance to the target is 500m. The telescopic sight helps in this regard, as the shooter is guided by the markings. The sniper generally memorizes a table of angles and deviations to make approximations at the moment of the shot.

Air temperature, among other factors, also affects the projectile’s trajectory, since colder air is denser than warmer air, producing more drag.

In short, there are many factors that influence the perfect shot, which is why training and a bit of intuition are important in this field. The same happens with arrows, darts, long passes in soccer games, and so many other situations in our daily lives. Often in high school, and also in higher education, what is done is to eliminate most of these external influences in order to make the phenomenon more understandable for the student. Here at Azeheb we have our own Sniper experiment. The “Projectile Launcher” kit is extremely complete.

One of the possibilities for the experiment is precisely a type of question that has appeared on some college entrance exams throughout Brazil. A target is dropped from a certain height while a projectile is launched obliquely, as shown in the video below.

In this experiment, which can be explored from several different perspectives, a laser sight, a projectile launcher with three speeds, steel balls, photoelectric sensors and much more are used. It is easy to notice issues such as trajectory, composition of movements, interference of the launch angle, fall time and much more.

The Azeheb kits, in addition to the various practical suggestions included in the manual, open up very modern and everyday possibilities for exploring the material. Creativity is the only limit. Access: www.azeheb.com