Name: _______________________________________Grade & Sec: _9_________________Score: ________

School: ______________________________________ Teacher: ______________________Subject: Science

LAS Writer: Marian Mae G. Santos
Content Editors: Christine Joy G. Sua, Emma T. Surita, Eda A. Fale
Lesson/Topic: Trigonometry in Projectile Motion Quarter 4 Week 2 LAS 2
Learning Target: Calculate the x and y components of projectile in different angles. (S9FE-Iva-35)
Reference/s: Lee, Johnson. “Projectile Motion (Physics): Definition, Equations, Problems (W/ Examples).”
Sciencing, December 22, 2020. https://sciencing.com/projectile-motion-physics-definition-
equations-problems-w-examples-13720233.html. [Accessed April 23, 2021]
drdjw. 2012. “Sine, Cosine and Tangent Functions.” Dr D Ponders Physics. January 23, 2012.
Available at: https://drdjw.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/sine-cosine-and-tangent-functions/.
[Accessed April 23, 2021]

Trigonometry in Projectile Motion

Trigonometry in Projectile Motion involves calculating the
“horizontal” and “vertical” components of a right-angled triangle. The
diagram shows the relationship between the different sides of a right-
angled triangle using the trigonometric functions.
If the problem gives you a launch angle and an initial velocity,
you will need to use trigonometry to figure out how to calculate the
horizontal and vertical velocity components.

Essentially, you create a right-angled triangle with the

hypotenuse inclined at the launch angle (θ) and the magnitude of the
velocity as the length, and then the adjacent side is the horizontal
component of the velocity and the opposite side is the vertical velocity.

Try to draw the right-angled triangle and you will see that you find the horizontal and vertical
components using the trigonometric identities:

So, these can be re-arranged (and with opposite = vy and adjacent = vx, example, the vertical velocity
component and the horizontal velocity components respectively, and hypotenuse = v0, the initial speed) to be
given:

This is all the trigonometry you'll need to solve projectile motion problems: plugging the launch angle
into the equation using your calculator's sine and cosine functions, and multiplying the result by the projectile's
initial speed.
EXAMPLE: a) 𝑣𝑥 = 𝑣 cos 𝜃
With an initial speed of 20 m/s and a launch angle of 60 𝑣𝑥 = 20 𝑚⁄𝑠 (cos 60°)
degrees, the components are: 𝑣𝑥 = 10 𝑚⁄𝑠
Given:
v=20m/s b) 𝑣𝑦 = 𝑣 sin 𝜃
Ɵ=60° 𝑣𝑦 = 20 𝑚⁄𝑠 (sin 60°)
Find: 𝑣𝑦 = 17.32 𝑚⁄𝑠
a) v x=?
b) vy=?

ACTIVITY
Direction: Given the angle and initial velocity, calculate the horizontal and vertical components of projectile.

Initial
Angle (Ɵ) Horizontal Component Vertical Component
Velocity

15° 10 m/s 9.66 m/s 2.59 m/s

30° 10 m/s
45° 10 m/s
60° 10 m/s
75° 10 m/s