Projectile Motion

• Projectile motion is a special case of two-dimensional motion. If we neglect air resistance, then unpowered objects moving through the air near the earth's surface have
  • constant horizontal speed
  • constant vertical acceleration (-9.8 m/s^2)
• The vertical component of a projectile's velocity is zero when it is at the peak of its trajectory.
• If a projectile starts and ends its motion at the same height, then the time it takes to go up equals the time it takes to come down.
• Sometimes, you need to use the horizontal component to figure out a quantity for the vertical problem; other times, you need to use the vertical problem to determine a value that will solve a horizontal equation.

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