Examples of Projectile Motion

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Projectile motion is used in everyday life with the following sports: basketball, baseball, tennis, volleyball, golf, football, diving, soccer, etc.  The reason that these sports are used in everyday life is because as when the ball goes up it has to come back down.  All of these balls follow a path (trajectory) that has both horizontal and vertical components [8]. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

        

 

             [8]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    An example of projectile motion in football would be the following football players throwing the ball:  

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

          [6]

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Another example would be basketball.  A cool fact about basketball is that projectile motion points out the time it takes for the basketball to reach its maximum height once it has left the player’s hand is equal to the time it takes for the ball to descend its trajectory and reach the same height above ground from where it started [7].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

        

          

       [7]

 

 

 

 

 

    A third example would be golf.  Once the player hits the golf ball you have to wait until it reaches its maximum height to the come down and see if it goes into the hole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

     

 

                      [9]

 

 

 

     fourth example would be baseball.  Once the ball is batted everyone, including the player wants to know how far the batted baseball will travel [10].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                [10]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fifth example is volleyball.  When the ball is hit upward all of the players are timing the time that it will take the ball to come down so that it won’t hit the ball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           [11]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    A sixth example would be diving.  When the player prepares to dive they go up to reach their maximum height then they dive into the water.   

 

 

 

 

 

       [12]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    A seventh example would be tennis.  Once the ball is hit it reaches it’s maximum point will passing the net, and then goes toward the ground, that’s when the player decides to hit the ball, and projectile motion continues once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               [13]    

 

 

 

 

    A last example would be soccer.  Whenever a player kicks the ball to its teammates or to make a goal they kick the ball to it’s maximum height then the ball comes down to either be kicked again or stopped by the goalie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                       

 

 

   

             [14]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    You see projectile motion goes through various steps that we use in everyday life.  Some examples are the ones that I mentioned earlier on sports.  So if you didn’t know what projectile motion was, now you should because not only did we tell you what it was but we also gave you examples on how we use it everyday!