Feeling bored on a long ocean passage in 1844, Washington Perry Buckner and his fellow midshipmen on USS Constitution concocted a hypothetical brain teaser about the relative motion of a cannon ball fired from a fast-moving ship. In this article, Suffolk University history professor Robert Allison and physics professor Walter Johnson explore the midshipmen’s debate, determine which of them had the correct answer and explain why.
Racing Cannon Balls: USS Constitution’s Midshipmen Debate a Gunnery Physics Problem at Sea
