PROJECTILE MOTION
• The SI Unit of force is newton (N).
• DEFINITION OF TERMS:
➢ PROJECTILE MOTION is the motion of an object thrown or projected
into the air, subject to only the force of gravity.
➢ 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.
➢ The TRAJECTORY is the path taken by a projectile.
➢ The horizontal displacement of a projectile is referred to as the
RANGE (dx).
➢ The vertical displacement of a projectile is referred to as the HEIGHT
(dy).
• There are the two components of the projectile's motion - horizontal and
vertical motion. These perpendicular components of a projectile’s motion
are independent of each other.
• Components of a Projectile’s Motion:
➢ Horizontal - Uniform motion - moving with a constant speed.
➢ Vertical - Uniformly-accelerated motion (Free Fall) - moving with a
constant acceleration. (The vertical acceleration of a projectile is the
acceleration due to gravity: g = 9.8 m/s2, downward)
A. Horizontally Launched Projectiles
B. Projectiles Launched at an Angle
• A projectile launched at an angle is a projectile that begins its motion
with an initial velocity that has both horizontal and vertical
components.
• The analysis of a problem about projectiles launched at an angle
(where the initial velocity and the angle of projection are given) should
begin by resolving the initial velocity into the horizontal and vertical
components using trigonometric functions.
• A projectile’s horizontal speed is constant. IT DOESN’T CHANGE.
• A projectile’s vertical speed is changing at a constant rate. It
DECREASES (slows down) as it goes up to the maximum height,
BECOMES ZERO at the maximum height, and INCREASES (speeds
up) as it goes back down from the maximum height.
• At the maximum height, the speed of a projectile is ENTIRELY
HORIZONTAL.
• For a projectile that lands at the same height from which it was
projected:
➢ The time needed to get from the starting position to the maximum
height is EQUAL to the time needed to get from the maximum
height to where it lands.
➢ The maximum height is reached midway through the projectile’s
motion.
• For any projectile launched with an initial velocity, vi, at an angle, θ:
FORCES AND THE LAWS OF MOTION
• A FORCE is a physical quantity that is capable of changing an object’s
state of motion (PUSH or PULL exerted on an object)
• Force is a vector quantity - which means it has both magnitude and
direction.
• There are two types of forces: contact forces and non-contact forces.
➢ A CONTACT FORCE refers to a force between two objects that are in
physical contact.
➢ A NON-CONTACT FORCE is defined as the force between two
objects that are not in physical contact.
• Force is represented using the symbol F.
• In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton put forth in his book entitled Philosophiæ
Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy) the three laws governing motion - these laws came to be
known as Newton’s Laws of Motion.
• Newton’s First Law of Motion - the LAW OF INERTIA states that:
“An object at rest stays at rest, while an object in motion stays in uniform
motion unless acted upon by a net force.”
• INERTIA is the tendency of objects to resist a change in their state of
motion.
• The MORE MASS an object has, the MORE INERTIA it has - this means
that it is harder to change the state of motion of more massive objects.
• NET FORCE refers to the total force acting on an object.
• When the net force is zero (0), the forces are balanced.
• When the net force is not equal to zero, the forces are unbalanced.
• Newton’s second law of motion - the Law of Acceleration - states that:
“When a net force acts on an abject, it will accelerate in the direction of the
net force. The object’s acceleration is directly proportional to the net force
and inversely proportional to its mass.”
• Acceleration varies directly with the net force (the greater the force, the
greater the acceleration), and inversely with the object’s mass (the greater
the mass, the smaller the acceleration).
• Newton’s third law of motion - the Law of Interaction - states that:
“For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.”
• According to Newton, whenever two objects interact, they exert forces
upon each other. These two forces are the action-reaction forces. It is
important to note that these two forces act on different objects and,
therefore, do not cancel each other out.
WORK, POWER, AND ENERGY
• Work is the measure of energy transfer that occurs when an object is
moved over a distance by an external force. It is the product of force and
displacement.
• Symbol: W
• SI Unit: joule (J)
• Work is directly proportional to both the force applied and displacement.
This means that the greater the force or the displacement, the greater
amount of work is done.
• You know that work is done if the following two conditions are met:
➢ The object moves as a force is applied.
➢ The force applied has the same direction (or has a component in the
same direction) as the motion of the object.
• Power is the rate of doing work.
• Symbol: P
• SI Unit: watt (W)
• Power is directly proportional to the amount of work done and inversely
proportional to the time taken for the work to be done. This means that the
greater amount of work done, the higher the power rating, and the longer
the time taken, the lower the power rating.
• Energy is the ability to do work.
• Energy comes in many forms – mechanical, chemical, etc…
• Mechanical energy is the energy that is possessed by an object due to its
motion (kinetic energy) or due to its position (potential energy)
• Kinetic Energy is also referred to as energy in motion.
• KE is directly proportional to the object’s mass and to the square of the
object’s velocity.
• Potential Energy is also referred to as stored energy. One form of
potential energy is gravitational potential energy (PEg). This is the energy
possessed by an object that is raised to a certain height.
• PEg is directly proportional to the object’s mass and the height from which
the object is raised.