Background Information
A projectile is any object…
- with an initial non-zero velocity that once projected or dropped continues in motion by its own inertia and whose acceleration is due to gravity alone.
The path
of a projectile is called its trajectory.
The horizontal distance traveled by a projectile is called its range.
The horizontal distance traveled by a projectile is called its range.
- a simple projectile if the acceleration due to gravity may be assumed constant in both magnitude and direction throughout its trajectory.
- a satellite if it follows a closed path that never brings it in contact with a celestial body (like the earth).
- a general projectile no matter where its trajectory may take it.
The
kinematic equations for a simple projectile are those of an object traveling
with...
- constant horizontal velocity and
- vertical acceleration.
How initial projection angles affects projectile motion?
A projectile
launched on level ground with an initial speed v0 at an angle
θ above the horizontal…
- will have the same range as a projectile launched with an initial speed v0 at an angle of 90° − θ (as shown in the diagram below).
- Complementary values of the intial angle result in the same range (their heights will be different).
- Small angles haver greater horizontal velocities but have shorter air time. Large angles have smaller horizontal velocities but have longer air time.
- The maximum range occurs when projection angle θ = 45°.
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Range along x-axis at different intial angles |
Nice! Very informative!
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