PHYSICS PROJECT
Projectile Motion
Name- Atreyee Dubey
Roll Number- 17 User
[Email address]
Introduction
What Is Projectile?
A projectile is any object thrown into space upon
which the only acting force is gravity. The primary
force acting on a projectile is gravity. This doesn’t
necessarily mean that other forces do not act on it,
just that their effect is minimal compared to gravity.
The path followed by a projectile is known as a
trajectory. A baseball batted or thrown is an example
of a projectile.
What Is Projectile Motion?
When a particle is thrown obliquely near the earth’s
surface, it moves along a curved path under
constant acceleration directed towards the centre of
the earth (we assume that the particle remains close
to the earth’s surface). The path of such a particle is
called a projectile, and the motion is
called projectile motion.
In a Projectile Motion, there are two
simultaneous independent rectilinear motions:
1. Along the x-axis: uniform velocity, responsible
for the horizontal (forward) motion of the
particle.
2. Along the y-axis: uniform acceleration,
responsible for
the vertical (downwards) motion of the particle.
Illustration of a projectile
Parabolic Motion of Projectiles
Let us consider a ball projected at an angle θ
with respect to the horizontal x-axis with the
initial velocity u as shown below:
t. Acceleration in the horizontal projectile motion
and vertical projectile motion of a particle: When
a particle is projected in the air with some speed, the
only force acting on it during its time in the air is
the acceleration due to gravity (g). This acceleration
acts vertically downward. There is no acceleration in
the horizontal direction, which means that the
velocity of the particle in the horizontal direction
remains constant
Equations of motion
For finding different parameters related
to projectile motion, we can make use of
differential equations of motions:
Formulas of Projectile Motion
Basketball Physics
We know that projectile motion is a type of two-
dimensional motion or motion in a plane. It is assumed
that the only force acting on a projectile (the object
experiencing projectile motion) is the force due to gravity.
But how can we define projectile motion in the real world?
How are the concepts of projectile motion applicable to
daily life? Let us see some real-life examples of projectile
motion in two dimensions.
All of us know about basketball. The player jumps a little to
score a basket and throws the ball in the basket. The
motion of the ball is in the form of a projectile. Hence, it is
referred to as projectile motion. What advantage does
jumping give to their chances of scoring a basket? Now,
apart from basketballs, if we throw a cricket ball, a stone in
a river, a javelin throw, an angry bird, a football or a bullet,
all these motions have one thing in common. They all
show a projectile motion. And that is, the moment they are
released, there is only one force acting on them- gravity. It
pulls them downwards, thus giving all of them an equal,
impartial acceleration.
It implies that if something is being thrown in the air, it can
easily be predicted how long the projectile will be in the air
and at what distance it will hit the ground from the initial
point. If the air resistance is neglected, there would be no
acceleration in the horizontal direction. This implies that as
long as a body is thrown near the surface, the body’s
motion can be considered a two-dimensional motion, with
acceleration only in one direction. But how can it be
concluded that a body thrown in the air follows a two-
dimensional path? To understand this, let us assume a
ball that is rolling as shown below:
Now, if the ball is rolled along the path shown, what can we say
about the dimension of motion? The most common answer would
be that it has an x-component and a y-component, it is moving on
a plane, so it must be an example of motion in two dimensions.
But it is not correct, as it can be noticed that there exists a line
that can completely define the basketball’s motion. Thus, it is an
example of motion in one dimension. Therefore, the choice of axis
does not alter the nature of the motion itself.
Now, if the ball is thrown at some angle, as shown, the
velocity of the ball has an x-component and a y-
component and also a z-component. So, does it mean that
it is a three-dimensional motion? It can be seen here that
a line cannot define such a motion, but a plane can.
Therefore, for a body thrown at any angle, there exists a
plane that entirely contains the motion of that body. Thus,
it can be concluded that as long as a body is near the
surface of the Earth and the air resistance can be
neglected, then irrespective of the angle of projection, it
will be a two-dimensional motion, no matter how the axes
are chosen. If the axes here are rotated in such a way
that, then and can completely define the motion of the ball
as shown below:
Thus, it can be concluded that the minimum number of
coordinates required to define the motion of a body
completely determines the dimension of its motion.
Inclined Projectile
If the projectile motion is occurring on an inclined plane
which is making some angle with the earth, then we call it
projectile motion on an inclined plane
Range of Projectile on an Inclined Plane Let us assume a
ball is thrown upwards on an inclined plane, which makes
an angle θ0 with the horizontal surface of the earth. The
ball is thrown with the velocity u and it makes an angle ⍺
with the inclined plane. The ball, which is in a projectile
motion, will have an initial velocity, acceleration, and final
velocity. Each quantity can be divided into two
components in the XY plane, as shown in the figure
Conclusion
Projectile motion is a two-dimensional motion. There
are mainly three types of projectile motion based on
the angle between initial velocity and horizontal. The
projectile is a uniformly accelerated motion having
acceleration equal to the acceleration due to gravity
in the downward direction.
The applications of projectile motion in physics and
engineering are numerous. Some examples
include meteors as they enter Earth's atmosphere,
fireworks, and the motion of any ball in sports. Such
objects are called projectiles and their path is called
a trajectory
.
Bibliography
To accomplish this project a few websites
and books has been used by me
https://byjus.com/physics/projectile-motion/
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-
2/What-is-a-Projectile
https://www.toppr.com/guides/physics/motion-in-a-
plane/projectile-motion/
Simplified Physics by SL Arora
Concepts of Physics By HC Verma
Certificate Page
This is to certify that I Atreyee
Dubey of class 11 D has completed
the Physics project on the topic
Projectile Motion .I certify that the
project is according to the guidelines
of the CBSE curiculum
Teacher’s signature
