Biathlon Practice: Science of Shooting Sports

The biathlon presents an unusual twist to Winter Olympic sports, combining skiing with shooting. The introduction of rifles to this Winter Olympic sport challenges athletes to develop different skills than their colleagues. The book series The Science of Archery & Shooting Sports from Schottenbauer Publishing contains graphs and data relevant to the biathlon. Volume 2 of the series focuses on shooting sports, which is one component of the biathlon.

The following graph (Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved) shows a trajectory of an extra-large foam bullet, which was videotaped in motion when fired from an air launcher. (Foam bullets were selected due to their slow speed, which could be analyzed using the scientific software typically available for high school and college students in the United States.) 

Discussion Questions

1. How far does the bullet travel? 
2. How high does the bullet travel?
3. What is the angle at which the foam bullet was fired, measured with respect to the horizontal axis?
4. What is the angle at which the foam bullet was fired, measured with respect to the vertical axis?
5. Does wind interfere with the trajectory of the bullet?

Additional graphs of shooting are available in the following books from Schottenbauer Publishing:

Graphs & Data for Science Lab: Multi-Volume Series

• The Science of Archery & Shooting Sports 
• Volume 1: Archery: Force & Video Analysis 
• Volume 2: Shooting Sports: Video Analysis

Anthologies of 28 Graphs

• The Science of Winter Olympic Sports 

Additional Information

Schottenbauer Publishing

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