Projectile+Motion

=**Projectile Motion Overview**= A projectile is an object of which the only force acting upon it is gravity. It can be deduced from the preceding definition that projectile motion is motion of objects where the only force that is acting upon them is gravity. Projectile motion differentiates from the motion we have covered so far (linear) as there is an //x// and a //y// component to the motion: the motion occurs in 2 dimensions instead of 1. So to determine certain magnitudes and times, more steps are required when analyzing projectile motion opposed to linear - to account for the //x// and //y// parts of the motion. New things that appear in projectile motion are: ∆//x// (displacement in the horizontal plane), ∆//y// (displacement in the vertical plane), initial and final //x//-velocities, as well as initial and final //y//-velocities.

It should also be noted that unless stated otherwise that acceleration will usually be the gravitational constant: g = - 9.8 m/s² or g = 9.8 m/s² [down].

= = =**Physicist: Galileo Galilei**= Galileo was an Italian mathematician, philosopher, physicist and astronomer born in 1564. In the work he performed in his lifetime, some of his well known accomplishments are his studies of: astronomy and the Earth's motion, projectile motion, and the acceleration of gravity. Galileo was the first to propose that constant acceleration and constant velocity both exist at the same time, independent of each other when a projectile is in motion. Along with that, the Italian physicist said that the applied force to the object to set it in motion no longer exists once in motion. He determined that the projectile experienced a constant horizontal velocity while having a constant vertical acceleration towards the Earth due to gravity. Galileo determined these concepts of projectile motion from studying a cannonball. He said that the force generated from the gun powder was only applied at the instant of explosion. This caused the constant velocity of the cannonball (and more specifically, the constant horizontal velocity). The reason that the cannonball took up a parabolic flight path was because of the constant acceleration from gravity downward with no force counteracting it (as shown in the figure below).

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= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =**Test Question**= A football player kicks a football at an angle of 33 degrees from the horizontal, with a velocity of 24m/s. Assuming the receiver is 49m from the ball when it is kicked and runs in the direction of the kick, how fast must he run to catch the ball before it hits the ground? = = =For a Taste of a University Projectile Motion Lecture...= =media type="custom" key="3187212"=