Projectile Motion
Key points
- Projectile motion is the motion of an object in the air that is only subject to gravitational acceleration
- Independence between horizontal and vertical motion
Projectile Motion is the motion of an object in ‘free’ air that is only subject to gravitational acceleration.
- Horizontal and vertical components (acceleration or velocity) are independent
- Assume ball a is dropped (with no vertical component of velocity) and ball b is launched horizontally (with no vertical component of velocity), then they fall the same distance in the same time
Not in Formula Booklet but important
The Kinematic Equations are the same – but used for each component (vertical/horizontal)
- At the peak of a projectile motion path, the potential energy is maximum and the kinetic energy is 0
- Vertical acceleration is always the same (or it will be explicitly stated to be different)
- What goes up must come down
- Projectile motion paths are symmetric
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