1 Answers
1. An object in flight after being thrown with some velocity is called a projectile and its motion is called projectile motion.
2. Example: A bullet fired from a gun, football kicked in air, a stone thrown obliquely in air etc.
3. In projectile motion, the object is moving freely under the influence of Earth’s gravitational field.
4. The projectile has two components of velocity, one in the horizontal i.e., along the x- direction and the other in the vertical i.e., along the y-direction.
5. As acceleration due to gravity acts only along the vertically downward direction, the vertical component changes in accordance with the laws of motion with ax = 0 and ay = -g.
6. As no force is acting in the horizontal direction, the horizontal component of velocity remains unchanged.
[Note: Retarding forces like air resistance etc. are neglected in projectile motion unless otherwise stated.]