Year 12 Physics

Unit 6

Curvy Things

Curvy things: the physics of projectile and circular

motion
External Assessment 2.4: Mechanics

Below is a list of specific leaning objectives (SLO’s) for this unit:

o Describe the horizontal and vertical motion of projectiles

o Solve projectile motion problems
o Describe the velocity and acceleration of an object experienceing circular motion
o Explain the forces that result in circular motion
o Explain how an object can have constant speed but still be accelerating
o Use the equation ac = v2/r to calculate centripetal acceleration
o Use the equation Fc = mv2/r to calculate centripetal force

Section 1: Projectile Motion

WHAT IS A PROJECTILE?

A projectile is any object on which the only force acting is gravity. For simplicity, we will
be ignoring drag forces. Basically, this means any object that is thrown, flung or fired in
the air is a projectile.

The path that any projectile follows is all or part of a parabola. Being a two dimensional
shape, the analysis is more complicated than the one-dimensional motion we have
studied so far.

The key concept of projectile motion is that there is only one force: gravity. We know
that gravity acts downwards, and so the net force and therefore the net acceleration of
any projectile is purely vertical. We say:

ay = vertical acceleration = g = -9.81ms-2

ax = horizontal acceleration = 0

We will look at three types of projectiles:

One Dimensional: objects that just go

straight up and down. We have already
looked at some examples.

Flat-launched: objects that are launched

with a purely horizontal velocity.

Angled-launch: objects undergoing full-

blown projectile motion in two
dimensions, from an angled launch.
ONE DIMENSIONAL PROJECTILES

As we have seen, projectiles in one dimension make

use of the kinematic equations with the use of
some common values, namely:

 Acceleration is always a = -9.81ms-2

 Velocity at the top of the flight is v = 0.

If we make use of the symmetrical nature of the motion, we can make the top of the
flight the initial or final point – giving us vi or vf.

Example: a bullet is fired upwards at a speed of

350ms-1. How high would you have to be hovering in
a hot air balloon to catch it just as it stopped
moving?

Step one: gather information

Step two: choose formula

Step three: solve

 Activity 1a: a basketball is thrown straight up in the air at a velocity of 14ms-1. How
high does it go?

The following article, “Bullet Catch” is taken from the XKCD blog “What if?” (https://what-
if.xkcd.com/81/ ) regarding firing a bullet directly up in the air and catching it.
HORIZONTAL LAUNCH

In this case, the object is launched horizontally. However, the object is accelerating
downwards. This means we have motion in two dimensions.
To deal with this, we split our motion up into horizontal and vertical components. We
can then treat each component separately as a one-dimensional situation, using the
familiar equations.

Concept question A: what happens to the horizontal speed throughout the object’s flight?

Concept question B: will an object released by a horizontal launch hit the ground faster,
slower, or at the same speed as an object dropped from the same height?

We therefore have two sets of

the quantities d, vi, vf and a:

Horizontal:

ax =

(vi)x = (vf)x =

dx

Vertical:

ay =

(vi)y =

dy

Note that the time, t is the same for both sets.

Example: A cannonball is fired off a 3m cliff at 27ms-1. How far does it go?

Step one: gather information:

Step two: find t

Step three: solve for dx

 Activity 1b: now try with a cannonball that is fired off a 5m cliff at 18ms-1. Does it
go further or not as far?

Step one: gather information:

Step two: find t

Step three: solve for dx

ANGLED LAUNCH

What’s the same?

In this case, the basic principles of projectile motion still
apply:
What’s different?
Now, the velocity contains both a horizontal and vertical component. We need to split
this up into components. We do this using trigonometry. Note, we need to know the
launch angle.

For a given launch angle, θ, the initial velocities are given by:
vx = vcos θ
(vy)I = vsin θ
From this point, we can use the same technique as for a flat launch – but we will also
need to take into account the symmetry, just like we did for the vertical-only motion.

Example: the cannonball from the last example is now fired at an angle of 54° (the
velocity is still 27ms-1). How far does it go?

Step one: gather information

Step two: resolve velocities

Step 3: calculate time (using vertical information)

Step 4: solve for distance

 Activity 1b: calculate the range of a rifle that fires bullets at 400ms-1. Note that
maximum distance is achieved with a launch angle of 45°

Step one: gather information

Step two: resolve velocities

Step 3: calculate time (using vertical information)

Step 4: solve for distance

 Activity 2c: an archer fires an arrow at a target 35m away (and hits!). The initial
speed of the arrow is 37ms-1, and the flight time is 1.04 seconds. What is the
launch angle?

 Activity 2d: redo activity 2b, but consider the fact that the bullet is fired from a
height of 1.5m, not the ground. How much range does this add?