Projectile Motion

claimed by ngillis3

This page will attempt to analyze projectile motion, a branch of classical mechanics in which the motion of an object (the projectile) is analyzed under the influence of the constant acceleration of gravity, after it has been propelled with some initial velocity.

The Main Idea

Let us imagine firing a cannon, or throwing the ball off of a tower, driving a golf ball off of a tee or even shooting a basketball. All of these are examples of projectile motion. By definition, a projectile has a single force that acts upon it - the force of gravity. If there were any other force acting upon an object, then that object would not be a projectile. Thus projectile motion is motion under the primary action of gravity where the initial velocity in some horizontal direction is not zero.

A Mathematical Model

Regardless of whether a projectile is moving upwards, downwards, upwards and rightwards, or downwards and leftwards, the free-body diagram of the projectile is still modeled as an object upon which the only force is gravity. Thus, the free-body diagram of a projectile would show a single force acting downwards and labeled force of gravity (or simply Fgrav).

What are the mathematical equations that allow us to model this topic. For example [math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.

A Computational Model

One method used to visualize or predict a projectiles trajectory is to apply our mathematical model using computational programming. Please see the following link Teach hands-on with GlowScript for a detailed computational model including animation of a projectile in motion. For this computational model I used V-Python! Teach hands-on with GlowScript

Examples

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