🎯 PROJECTILE TRAJECTORIES
PAGE 1 OF 5, TWO MOTIONS AT ONCE
THE BIG IDEA
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL MOTION ARE INDEPENDENT
Throw a ball, kick a football, or shoot a basketball and you launch a projectile. The moment it leaves your hand or foot, two separate stories begin. Horizontally, the object keeps the speed you gave it (ignoring air). Vertically, gravity pulls it down at 9.8 m/s², the same acceleration for every object on Earth. These two motions do not interfere with each other. That independence is the secret behind every parabolic arc you see in sport and nature.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
A bullet fired horizontally and a bullet dropped from the same height hit the ground at the same time (in a vacuum). Horizontal speed does not slow the fall!
SPLIT!
HORIZONTAL
➡️ vx stays constant (no air)
→ Distance = speed × time
⚽ Kick harder = more horizontal speed
→ Distance = speed × time
⚽ Kick harder = more horizontal speed
VERTICAL
⬇️ Gravity: g = 9.8 m/s² downward
⬆️ Upward speed slows, then reverses
🏀 Same g for every mass
⬆️ Upward speed slows, then reverses
🏀 Same g for every mass