To illustrate the usefulness of the above equations in making predictions about the motion of a projectile, consider their use in the solution of the following problem.Ī football is kicked with an initial velocity of 25 m/s at an angle of 45-degrees with the horizontal. The topic of components of the velocity vector was discussed earlier in Lesson 2. sine(Theta) where Theta is the angle that the velocity vector makes with the horizontal.

The initial y-velocity (v iy) can be found using the equation v iy = v i cosine(Theta) where Theta is the angle that the velocity vector makes with the horizontal.The initial x-velocity (v ix) can be found using the equation v ix = v i In each of the above equations, the vertical acceleration of a projectile is known to be -9.8 m/s/s (the acceleration of gravity).Īs discussed earlier in Lesson 2, the v ix and v iy values in each of the above sets of kinematic equations can be determined by the use of trigonometric functions. An application of projectile concepts to each of these equations would also lead one to conclude that any term with a x in it would cancel out of the equation since a x = 0 m/s/s.įor the vertical components of motion, the three equations are The other two equations are seldom (if ever) used. Of these three equations, the top equation is the most commonly used. For the horizontal components of motion, the equations are You may recall from earlier that there are two sets of kinematic equations - a set of equations for the horizontal components of motion and a similar set for the vertical components of motion. To treat such problems, the same principles that were discussed earlier in Lesson 2 will have to be combined with the kinematic equations for projectile motion. A non-horizontally launched projectile is a projectile that begins its motion with an initial velocity that is both horizontal and vertical. In this section of Lesson 2, the use of kinematic equations to solve non-horizontally launched projectiles will be demonstrated.

$projectile motion equations$

These equations were used to solve problems involving the launching of projectiles in a horizontal direction from an elevated position. In the previous part of Lesson 2, the use of kinematic equations to solve projectile problems was introduced and demonstrated.

Projectile motion equations