Projectile Motion - Introduction

Projectile Motion exists commonly in our everyday lives and is particularly evident in the motion or flight of objects which are projected from a particular height. The key to working with projectile motion is recognising, that when an object with mass is flying through the air, its motion is a combination of vertical and horizontal movements. Although the horizontal velocity of the object remains constant throughout the flight, it’s vertical velocity accelerates or decelerates due to gravity.

By the end of this topic, we hope you will have achieved the following goals:

Define Projectile Motion

Understand and utilise the relationship between horizontal, vertical, and total velocity.

Find the total time of flight of an object.

Calculate the maximum height of a given flight.

Ascertain the range of a projected object.

Ok, now that you have a basic inkling of what this topic is about, its time to move on to your first lesson, which will teach you about Projectile Motion. Put on your thinking helmet, and click on the arrow below to continue.