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Projectile Motion, General Solution: Projectile Motion Curved Motion Physics Contents Index Home

1) The document provides a general solution for projectile motion, which describes the two-dimensional parabolic trajectory of an object thrown with an initial velocity in a gravitational field without air resistance. 2) It outlines the key questions that will be answered, including the time for the projectile to reach the top of its trajectory, the maximum height reached, the total time of flight, and the horizontal distance traveled. 3) The solution involves determining the initial horizontal and vertical velocity components, then using kinematic equations to calculate the trajectory properties based on these initial conditions and the acceleration due to gravity.

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Ansh Tanwar
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76 views

Projectile Motion, General Solution: Projectile Motion Curved Motion Physics Contents Index Home

1) The document provides a general solution for projectile motion, which describes the two-dimensional parabolic trajectory of an object thrown with an initial velocity in a gravitational field without air resistance. 2) It outlines the key questions that will be answered, including the time for the projectile to reach the top of its trajectory, the maximum height reached, the total time of flight, and the horizontal distance traveled. 3) The solution involves determining the initial horizontal and vertical velocity components, then using kinematic equations to calculate the trajectory properties based on these initial conditions and the acceleration due to gravity.

Uploaded by

Ansh Tanwar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Projectile Motion, General Solution

Projectile Motion Curved Motion Physics Contents Index Home

What follows is a general solution for


the two dimensional motion of an
object thrown in a gravitational field.
This is usually termed a projectile
motion problem. The thrown object is
called the projectile. Its path is called
the trajectory. We will answer all the
usual questions that arise in a first year
physics class regarding this motion.
We will not consider air resistance.
Without air resistance, the projectile
will follow a parabolic trajectory. We
will be throwing the projectile on level
ground on planet Earth. It will leave the point of release, arc
through the air along a path shaped like a parabola, and then hit
ground a certain distance from where it was thrown.
As mentioned above, this is a two dimensional problem.
Therefore, we will consider x and y directed displacements,
velocities, and accelerations. The projectile will accelerate under
the influence of gravity, so its y acceleration will be downward,
or negative, and will be equal in size to the acceleration due to
gravity on Earth. There will be no acceleration in the x direction
since the force of gravity does not act along this axis.
On Earth the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2 directed
downward. So, for this presentation acceleration in the y
direction, or ay, will be -9.8 m/s2, and acceleration in the x
direction, or ax, will be 0.0 m/s2.
Given the original conditions with which the projectile is thrown
we will proceed to find the components of the original velocity
and then move on to answer the following questions:
 How much time passes till the projectile is at the top of its
flight?
 How high does the projectile rise?
 How much time passes till the projectile strikes the ground?
 How far away does the projectile land from its starting
point?
 

Original, or initial, conditions:


The original conditions are the size
of the velocity and the angle above
the horizontal with which the
projectile is thrown.
General:
Original size of velocity: vo

Original angle: theta

Example:
vo = 40.0 m/s

theta = 35 degrees

 
Components of original velocity:
The usual first step in this
investigation is to find the x
and y components for the
original velocity.

General:
X component of original velocity:
vox = vocos(theta)

Y component of original velocity: voy = vosin(theta)

Example:
In the x direction:

vox = vocos(theta)

vox = (40.0 m/s)(cos(35 degrees))

vox = (40.0)(0.8191)

vox = 32.76

vox = 32.8 m/s

In the y direction:

voy = vosin(theta)

voy = (40.0 m/s)(sin(35 degrees))

voy = (40.0)(0.5735)

voy = 22.94
voy = 22.9 m/s

How much time passes until the projectile is at


the top of its trajectory?
At the top of the trajectory the y, or upward, velocity of the
projectile will be 0.0 m/s. The object is still moving at this
moment, but its velocity is purely horizontal. At the top it is not
moving up or down, only across.
Notice that the object is still in motion
at the top of the trajectory; however, its
velocity is completely horizontal. It has
stopped going up and is about to begin
going down. Therefore, its y velocity is
0.0 m/s.
We need to find out how much time
passes from the time of the throw until
the time when the y velocity of the
projectile becomes 0.0 m/s. This y
velocity at the top of the trajectory can
be thought of as the final y velocity for
the projectile for the portion of its
flight that starts at the throw and ends at the top of the trajectory.
We will call this amount of time 'the half time of flight', since
the projectile will spend one half of its time of flight rising to the
top of its trajectory. It will spend the second half of its time of
flight moving downward.
General:
We can use the following kinematics equation:

vf = vo + at

Subscript it for y:

vfy = voy + ayt

Solve it for t:

t = (vfy - voy) / ay

Plug in 0.0 m/s for vfy:

t = (0.0 m/s - voy) / ay

If the original y velocity and the y acceleration, i. e., the acceleration due to gravity,
are plugged into the above equation, it will solve for the amount of time that passes
from the moment of release to the moment when the projectile is at the top of its
flight.

Example:
Start with:

t = (vfy - voy) / ay

Plug in 0.0 m/s for vfy:

t = (0.0 m/s - voy) / ay

Plug in values for voy and ay:

t = (0.0 m/s - 22.9 m/s) / - 9.8 m/s2

t = -22.9 / -9.8

t = 2.33

t = 2.3 s

In this example 2.3s of time passes while the projectile is rising to the top of the
trajectory.
 

How high does the projectile rise?


Here you need to find the
displacement in the y direction at
the time when the projectile is at
the top of its flight. We have just
found the time at which the
projectile is at the top of its flight.
If we plug this time into a
kinematics formula that will
return the displacement, then we
will know how high above ground
the projectile is at when it is at the
top of its trajectory.

General:
Here is the displacement formula:

d = vot + 0.5at2

We must think of this displacement in the y direction, so we will subscript this


formula for y:

dy = voyt + 0.5ayt2

If now we plug in the half time of flight, which was found above, we will solve for the
height of the trajectory, since the projectile is at its maximum height at this time.

Example:
Starting with:

dy = voyt + 0.5ayt2


Then plugging in known values:

dy = (22.9 m/s)(2.33 s) + (0.5)(-9.8 m/s2)(2.33 s)2

dy = 53.35 - 26.60

dy = 26.75

dy = 27 m

How much time passes until the projectile


strikes the ground?
General:
With no air resistance, the projectile will spend an equal amount of time rising to the
top of its projectile as it spends falling from the top to the ground. Since we have
already found the half time of flight, we need only to double that value to get the total
time of flight.

Example:
t = 2(2.33 s)

t = 4.66

t = 4.7 s

This is the total time of flight.

How far away does the projectile land from its


starting point?
The distance from the starting point on the
ground to the landing point on the ground is
called the range of the trajectory. This
range is a displacement in the x direction. It
is governed by the x velocity of the
projectile. This x velocity does not change
during the flight of the projectile. That is,
whatever is the value of the x velocity at
the start of the trajectory will be the value of the x velocity
throughout the flight of the projectile. The x velocity remains
constant because there are no accelerations in the x direction.
The only acceleration is in the y direction, and this is due to the
vertical pull of gravity. Gravity does not pull horizontally.
Therefore, the calculation for the range is simplified.

General:
Let us start with the general displacement formula:

d = vot + 0.5at2

Since we are working in the x direction, we should subscript this equation for x:

dx = voxt + 0.5axt2

Now, since the acceleration in the x direction is 0.0 m/s 2, the second term in the above
equation drops out, and we are left with:

dx = voxt

The velocity in the x direction does not change. The projectile maintains its original x
velocity throughout its entire flight. So, the original x velocity is the only x velocity
the projectile will have. We could, therefore, think of the last equation as:

dx = vxt
If we plug in the original x velocity for vx and the total time of flight for t, we will
solve for the horizontal displacement, or range, of the trajectory.

Example:
As shown in the general section above, start with:

dx = vxt

Plug in values. Remember that the x velocity is constant and always equal to its
original value and that the time here is the total time of flight.

dx = (32.8 m/s)(4.66 s)

dx = 152.84

dx = 150 m

Projectile Motion Curved Motion Physics Contents Index Home

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