Initial velocity, the velocity of a moving body at

starting; especially, the velocity of a projectile as it

leaves the mouth of a firearm from which it is discharged.
In physics, velocity is the measurement of the rate and direction of change in position of an object. It is a
vector physical quantity; both magnitude and direction are required to define it.

gravitational force - (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the
attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface; "the more remote the body the less the
gravity"; "the gravitation between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them"; "gravitation cannot be held
responsible for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein

A projectile is an object upon which the only force acting is gravity. There are a variety of examples of
projectiles. An object dropped from rest is a projectile (provided that the influence of air resistance is
negligible). An object that is thrown vertically upward is also a projectile (provided that the influence of
air resistance is negligible). And an object which is thrown upward at an angle to the horizontal is also a
projectile (provided that the influence of air resistance is negligible). A projectile is any object that once
projected or dropped continues in motion by its own inertia and is influenced only by the downward
force of gravity.

By definition, a projectile has a single force that acts upon it - the force of gravity. If there were any
other force acting upon an object, then that object would not be a projectile. Thus, the free-body
diagram of a projectile would show a single force acting downwards and labeled force of gravity (or
simply Fgrav). Regardless of whether a projectile is moving downwards, upwards, upwards and
rightwards, or downwards and leftwards, the free-body diagram of the projectile is still as depicted in
the diagram at the right. By definition, a projectile is any object upon which the only force is gravity.

A trajectory is the path a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be
a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an
asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass. A trajectory can be described mathematically
either by the geometry of the path, or as the position of the object over time.