G.

D Goenka School
Varanasi

PHYSICS PROJECT REPORT

PROJECTILE MOTION

GUIDED BY: SUBMITTED BY:

Mr. Shashank Shekhar
11th-A
 G.D Goenka School
Varanasi

Certificate
This is to certify that the Physics project
Projectile Motion has been submitted by the
candidate Shashank Shekhar for class 11th in
session 2023-2024. It is further certificated that
this project is the individual work of the
candidate.

Teacher in-charge
________________ Date:
Signature
 Acknowledgement
In the accomplishment of this project, many people
have provided me with heart pledge support & I
want to thank all the people who have been
concerned with this project . I would like to thank
my physics teacher who rendered his support &
guidance for the project.
Last but not least , I would like to thank my parents
& friends for their help and suggestions.
 Index
● Projectile motion
❖ Definition
❖ Discovery & Evolution
Aristotle's Theory of motion
Medieval Scientists
The Renaissance
Galileo’s Work
❖ Applications
● Trebuchet
❖ Definition
❖ History
❖ Structure
❖ Prineple
❖ Working
 Projectile motion
Definition:
A particle moves along a curved path under constant acceleration
when thrown obliquely near the Earth's surface. This curved path is
always directed towards the center of the Earth. The path of such a
particle is called the projectile's trajectory, and the motion is called
projectile motion.
Discovery & Evolution:
Aristotle’s Theory of motion
The Greek thinker stated that if a body is moving , some external
force is required to keep it moving .
E.g- An arrow shot from a bow keeps flying since the air behind the
arrow keeps pussing it.
Medieval Scientists
Aristotle’s medieval successors internalized this force in the
projectile itself and called it “impetus”. This impetus caused the
object to move in a straight line until it was expended, at which
point the object fell straight to the ground. While objects projected
through small distances may appear to behave in this manner , under
closer inspection and when viewing projectiles traveling greater
distances, it becomes clear that projectiles don’t behave in this
manner.
The Renaissance
During the Renaissance, the focus, especially in the arts, was on
representing as accurately as possible the real world whether on a 2
dimensional surface or a solid such as marble or granite. This
required two things. The first was a new method for drawing or
painting, e.g. perspective. The second, relevant to this topic, was
careful observation.
With the spread of cannon in warfare, the study of projectile motion
had taken on greater importance, and now, with more careful
observation & more accurate representation, came the realization
that projectiles did not move the way Aristotle & his followers had
said they did: the path of a projectile did not consist of two
consecutive straight line components but was instead a smooth
curve.
Galileo’s Work
Now someone needed to come up with a method to determine if
there was a special curve a projectile followed. But measuring the
path of a projectile was not easy.
Using an inclined plane, Galileo had performed experiments on
uniformly accelerated motion, & he now used the same apparatus to
study projectile motion. He placed an inclined plane on a table &
provided it with a curved piece at the bottom which deflected an
inked bronze ball into a horizontal direction. The ball thus
accelerated rolled over the table-top with uniform motion & then
fell off the edge of the table where it hit the floor, leaving a small
mark. The mark allowed the horizontal & vertical distances traveled
by the ball to be measured .
By varying the ball’s horizontal velocity & vertical drop, Galileo
was able to determine that the path of a projectile is parabolic.
 A page from Galileo’s notebooks,

Applications
1. Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight,
behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, unguided
bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and
accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.
2. A ballistic missile is a missile only guided during the relatively
brief initial powered phase of flight, and whose subsequent course is
governed by the laws of classical mechanics (which includes
projectile motion). It plays an important role in sports.
E.g.- Football, baseball, golf, javelin throw, discuss throw,
cricket, tennis, table tennis, basketball and rugby.
3. In materials handling industries, oftentimes, a designer will use
projectile motion to determine the anticipated trajectory of the
discharge from bulk solids belt conveyors and bucket elevators.
They use the predicted trajectories to aid in designing material
collection chutes, etc.
4. Many weapons are based on projectile motion, like catapults,
slingshots and trebuchets
 Trebuchet
Definition
A trebuchet is a type of catapult, a common type of siege engine
which uses a swinging arm to throw a projectile.

History
1. The first recorded use of traction trebuchets was in ancient China.
They were probably used by the Mohists as early as 4th century BC
2. The hand trebuchet was a staff sling mounted on a pole using a
lever mechanism to propel projectiles, Basically a one-man traction
trebuchet, it was used by emperor Nikephoros Il Phokas around 965
to disrupt enemy formations in the open field.
3. The earliest known description and illustration of a counterweight
trebuchet comes from a commentary on the conquests of Saladin by
Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsus in 1187.
4. The couillard is a smaller version of a counterweight trebuchet
with a single frame instead of the usual double "A" frames. The
counterweight is split into two halves to avoid hitting the center
frame.
5. With the introduction of gunpowder, the trebuchet began to lose
its place as the siege engine of choice to the cannon.
Structure
In general, the trebuchet consists of a long beam that pivots around
an axle positioned above ground on a wooden structure. The axle
divides the beam into a long and short arm. The projectile is placed
at the terminal end of the long arm and pulling ropes or a
counterweight is positioned at the terminal end of the short arm.
Historically, there were three basic forms of trebuchets: traction
machines, powered by crews pulling on ropes; counterweight
machines, activated by the fall of large masses; and hybrid machines
employing both pulling ropes and falling large masses.
Counterweight trebuchets were the most powerful of the three types.
Large counterweight trebuchets could throw 300 kg rocks over 200
yards. The most massive trebuchets were reported to throw rocks in
excess of 1000 kg.

Principle
The trebuchet relies on the principle that stored potential energy of
the counterweight can be converted into kinetic energy of the
payload, launching it into the air. It is also based on the principle of
projectile motion.
Working
A trebuchet works by using the energy of a falling (and hinged)
counterweight to launch a projectile (the payload), using mechanical
advantage to achieve a high launch speed. For maximum launch
speed the counterweight must be much heavier than the payload,
since this means that it will "fall" quickly.
the counterweight pivots around a much shorter distance than the
payload end. The advantage of this is that the payload end of the
beam reaches a much higher linear velocity than the counterweight
end of the beam. This is the principle of mechanical advantage, and
is what allows the payload to reach a high launch velocity. However,
because the counterweight pivots around a much shorter distance, its
weight must be much greater than the weight of the payload, to get a
high launch velocity.

Illustration of Working of Trebuchet