Scribd
Upload
455 views

Projectile Motion

Projectile motion describes the trajectory of an object thrown near the earth's surface under the influence of gravity only. The motion can be analyzed into horizontal and vertical components, with gravity only affecting the vertical motion. The path of a projectile through the air forms a parabolic curve. Key aspects of projectile motion include the initial launch velocity, maximum height reached, total flight time, and horizontal range. The equations to calculate these values assume gravity is the only force acting and do not take into account air resistance.

Uploaded by

Baltazar Marcos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
455 views

Projectile Motion

Projectile motion describes the trajectory of an object thrown near the earth's surface under the influence of gravity only. The motion can be analyzed into horizontal and vertical components, with gravity only affecting the vertical motion. The path of a projectile through the air forms a parabolic curve. Key aspects of projectile motion include the initial launch velocity, maximum height reached, total flight time, and horizontal range. The equations to calculate these values assume gravity is the only force acting and do not take into account air resistance.

Uploaded by

Baltazar Marcos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

Projectile motion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Parabolic water trajectory

Initial velocity of parabolic throwing

Components of initial velocity of parabolic throwing

Projectile motion is a form of motion in which an object or particle (called a projectile) is


thrown near the earth's surface, and it moves along a curved path under the action of gravity
only. The only force of significance that acts on the object is gravity, which acts downward to
cause a downward acceleration. There are no horizontal forces needed to maintain the horizontal
motion consistent with the concept of inertia.

Contents

1 The initial velocity

2 Kinematic quantities of projectile motion


o 2.1 Acceleration
o 2.2 Velocity
o 2.3 Displacement

3 Parabolic equation

4 Time of Flight or total time of the whole journey

5 The maximum height of projectile

6 Relation during horizontal range and maximum height

7 The maximum distance of projectile

8 Application of the work energy theorem

9 Projectile motion in art

10 References

11 Notes

12 External links

The initial velocity


If the projectile is launched with an initial velocity
.

, then it can be written as

The components

and

can be found if the angle, is known:

,
.
If the projectile's range, launch angle, and drop height are known, launch velocity can be found
using Newton's formula

.
The launch angle is usually expressed by the symbol theta, but often the symbol alpha is used.

Kinematic quantities of projectile motion


In projectile motion, the horizontal motion and the vertical motion are independent of each other;
that is, neither motion affects the other.

Acceleration
Since there is only acceleration in the vertical direction, the velocity in the horizontal direction is
constant, being equal to
. The vertical motion of the projectile is the motion of a
particle during its free fall. Here the acceleration is constant, being equal to .[1] The components
of the acceleration are:
,
.

Velocity
The horizontal component of the velocity of the object remains unchanged throughout the
motion. The vertical component of the velocity increases linearly, because the acceleration due to
gravity is constant. The accelerations in the and directions can be integrated to solve for the
components of velocity at any time , as follows:
,
.
The magnitude of the velocity (under the Pythagorean theorem as the triangle law):
.

Displacement

Displacement and coordinates of parabolic throwing


At any time , the projectile's horizontal and vertical displacement:
,
.
The magnitude of the displacement:
.

Parabolic equation
Main article: Trajectory of a projectile
Consider the equations,
,
.
If t is eliminated between these two equations the following equation is obtained:

,
This equation is the equation of a parabola. Since , , and
is of the form
,

are constants, the above equation

in which and are constants. This is the equation of a parabola, so the path is parabolic. The
axis of the parabola is vertical.

Time of Flight or total time of the whole journey


The total time for which the projectile remains in the air is called the time of flight.

After the flight, the projectile returns to the horizontal axis, so y=0

Note that we have neglected air resistance on the projectile.

The maximum height of projectile

Maximum height of projectile


The highest height which the object will reach is known as the peak of the object's motion. The
increase of the height will last, until
, that is,
.
Time to reach the maximum height:

.
From the vertical displacement of the maximum height of projectile:

Relation during horizontal range and maximum height


The relation between the range

on the horizontal plane and the maximum height reached at

is:

The maximum distance of projectile


Main article: Range of a projectile

The maximum distance of projectile


It is important to note that the Range and the Maximum height of the Projectile does not depend
upon mass of the trajected body. Hence Range and Maximum height are equal for all those
bodies which are thrown by same velocity and direction. Air resistance does not affect
displacement of projectile.
The horizontal range d of the projectile is the horizontal distance the projectile has travelled
when it returns to its initial height (y = 0).

reach ground:

.
From the horizontal displacement the maximum distance of projectile:
,
so[2]

.
Note that has its maximum value when
,
which necessarily corresponds to
,
or
.

Application of the work energy theorem


According to the work-energy theorem the vertical component of velocity are listed below:
.

Projectile motion in art

The sixth panel of Hwaseonghaenghaengdo Byeongpun ( ) describes


King Shooting Arrows at Deukjung Pavilion, 1795-02-14. According to palace records,
Lady Hyegyeong, the King's mother, was so pleased to be presented with this 8-panels
screen of such magnificent scale and stunning precision that she rewarded each of the
seven artists who participated in its production. The artists were Choe Deuk-hyeon, Kim
Deuk-sin, Yi Myeong-gyu, Jang Han-jong (1768 - 1815), Yun Seok-keun, Heo Sik (1762
- ?) and Yi In-mun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projectile_motion

You might also like