Monkey and Hunter problem

A hunter tries to shoot a monkey up in a tree. The hunter knows that when he pulls the trigger the monkey will release the branch at the same time and enter free fall.

Should the hunter aim:

• > Above the monkey
• > At the monkey
• > Below the monkey

In order to tackle this problem you need to split each 'vector' into their components. This means splitting the vertical and horizontal motion of the Monkey and Hunter's bullet.

Monkey

Vertical motion:

The monkey lets go off the branch so the only force acting on the monkey is gravity.

Horizontal motion:

There is no horizontal motion.

Bullet

Vertical motion:

When the trigger is pulled the vertical component of the shot acts upwards onto the bullet. Gravity also acts down on the bullet.

Horizontal motion:

When the trigger is pulled the horizontal component acts on the bullet.

The simulation below shows what would happen if the hunter shot the monkey head on.

The simulation above was used to show how gravity is a constant and helps illustrate how the vertical and horizontal components can be seperated
Regardless of the speed of the bullet (Horizontal component) both objects will colide as the same gravity (vertical component) is applied to both.

The simulation below is on another page, This shows a more acurate simulation to the topic, Monkey and Hunter problem, as it shows hunter shooting up at the monkey and the maths behing it. Simulation V.2