Amrita vidyalayam senior secondary

school , Ettimadai

PHYSICS PROJECT
Topic: Projectile motion
 PHYSICS PROJECT

Done by : Mamatha.M

Class. : 11A

Roll no. : 24
 ACKNOWLEDMENT

My sincere gratitude to our Principal Shri

Nedumaran S, for coordination in extending
every possible support for completion of the
project.
I am extremely grateful to Selvi Indira
Priyadharshini.T, teacher of physical
department for her able guidance and useful
suggestions which helped me in completing
the project on time.
Finally, yet importantly, I would like to
express my heartfelt thanks to my beloved
parents for their blessings, my friends and
classmates for their help and wish for the
successful.
 Projectile motion

Definition: When a particle is thrown

obliquely near the earth’s surface, it moves
along a curved path under constant
acceleration directed towards the centre of
the earth (we assume that the particle
remains close to the earth’s surface). The
path of such a particle is called a projectile,
and the motion is called projectile motion

TYPES OF PROJECTILE MOTION

 Vertical projectile motion

 Horizontal projectile
 Oblique projectile
DISCOVERY AND EVOLUTION

ARISTOTLE THEORY OF MOTION

The Greek thinker stated that if a body is
moving something external force is required
to keep it moving

Mediaeval Scientists
Aristotle mediaeval successors internalized
this force in the projectile 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
do not 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 solid surface as
marble or granite. this required 2 things the
first was new methods for drawing or
painting e.g..; perspective the second
relevant to this topic was careful
observation.
With the spread of Canon in warfare the
study of projectile motion had taken on
greater importance and now with more
careful observation and more accurate
representation came the realization that
projectiles did not move the way Aristotle
and 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 Work
Now someone needed to come up with
method to determine if there was special
curve projectile followed but measuring the
path of a projectile was not easy using an
inclined plane Galileo had performed
experiments on uniformly accelerated
motion and he now be used the same
apparatus to study projectile motion he
placed an inclined plane on a table and
provided it with the curve peace at the
bottom which deflected and linked bronze
ball into horizontal direction the ball. The
ball thus accelerated rolled over the table top
with uniform motion and then fell off the
edge of the table where it hit the floor, it left
a small mark. The mark allowed the
horizontal and vertical distances travelled by
the ball to be measured.
By varying the ball’s horizontal velocity and
vertical drop Galileo was able to determine
the path of a projectile is parabolic.

Applications
1.Ballistics is a science of projectiles that
deals with propulsion, flight, and impact of
projectiles. Ballistics also deals with the art
of designing different types of projectiles for
different performances and consequences.
2.A ballistic missile refers to the object/body
that takes a ballistic trajectory to deliver a
missile/s on a fixed target. Now let us know
how ballistics is classified.
3.It is mainly used in criminal investigations
that involve gun shots. Ballistics aids to
inspect the path travelled by the bullet from
source to target.
4. Many weapons are based on projectile
motion like catapults slingshots and
trebuchets.

TREBUCHET

Definition ;
A trebuchet is a type of catapult that uses a
long arm to throw a projectile. It was a
common powerful siege engine until the
advent of gunpowder.

Mechanics ;
The basic principles of the trebuchet were
simple yet extremely effective. The siege
engine was composed of a beam whose
placement on a raised fulcrum divided it into
two sections of unequal length, commonly
denoted as the long arm and the short arm.
The end of the long arm was fitted with a
sling or a cup to hold the projectile, while
the short arm was equipped with a
counterweight or ropes to be pulled. To
prepare for a launch, the short arm was
pivoted upward while the long arm was
pulled downward and its sling or cup was
loaded with the projectile. To “fire” the
weapon, the long arm was released, allowing
the counterweight or rope pullers to plunge
the short arm downward, which propelled
the long arm upward, thereby launching the
projectile.

History
The trebuchet originated in China between
the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. By the 6th
century CE the invention had spread across
Eurasia and had reached the Mediterranean
region. The siege engine was instrumental in
numerous military conquests, including 7th-
century Muslim campaigns in the Middle
East and North Africa as well as Mongol
invasions in Eurasia during the 13th and 14th
centuries. Some scholars have suggested that
the siege engine may have played a role in
the advancement of theoretical mechanics in
the Middle Ages. . It has been argued that
the hinged counterweight, whose direct path
toward the ground afforded a more powerful
launch than a fixed counterweight did, may
have inspired the 13th-century European
mathematician Jordanus de Nemor in his
conceptualization of positional gravity—the
idea that an object in vertical descent
performs more work than an object of equal
weight on an oblique path of equal length.
BASKETBALL PHYSICS ;
The player jumps a little to score a basket
and throws the ball in the basket. The
motion of the ball is in the form of a
projectile. Hence, it is referred to as
projectile motion. What advantage does
jumping give to their chances of scoring a
basket? Now, apart from basketballs, if we
throw a cricket ball, a stone in a river, a
javelin throw, an angry bird, a football or a
bullet, all these motions have one thing in
common. They all show a projectile motion.
And that is, the moment they are released,
there is only one force acting on them-
gravity. It pulls them downwards, thus
giving all of them an equal, impartial
acceleration.It implies that if something is
being thrown in the air, it can easily be
predicted how long the projectile will be in
the air and at what distance it will hit the
ground from the initial point. If the air
resistance is neglected, there would be no
acceleration in the horizontal direction. This
implies that as long as a body is thrown near
the surface, the body’s motion can be
considered a two-dimensional motion, with
acceleration only in one direction. But how
can it be concluded that a body thrown in
the air follows a two-dimensional path? To
understand this, let us assume a ball that is
rolling as shown below:
Now, if the ball is rolled along the path
shown, what can we say about the
dimension of motion? The most common
answer would be that it has an x-component
and a y-component, it is moving on a plane,
so it must be an example of motion in two
dimensions. But it is not correct, as it can be
noticed that there exists a line that can
completely define the basketball’s motion.
Thus, it is an example of motion in one
dimension. Therefore, the choice of axis
does not alter the nature of the motion itself.
Now, if the ball is thrown at some angle, as
shown, the velocity of the ball has an x-
component and a y-component and also a z-
component. So, does it mean that it is a
three-dimensional motion? It can be seen
here that a line cannot define such a motion,
but a plane can. Therefore, for a body
thrown at any angle, there exists a plane that
entirely contains the motion of that body.
Thus, it can be concluded that as long as a
body is near the surface of the Earth and the
air resistance can be neglected, then
irrespective of the angle of projection, it will
be a two-dimensional motion, no matter how
the axes are chosen. If the axes here are
rotated in such a way that, then and can
completely define the motion of the ball as
shown below:
Thus, it can be concluded that the minimum
number of coordinates required to define the
motion of a body completely determines the
dimension of its motion.
Conclusion;
Projectile motion is a classic example of the
interplay between horizontal and vertical
motion affected by gravity. It is a
foundational concept in physics and has
practical applications in a wide range of
fields, from sports to engineering, making it
crucial to understand the principles and
conclusions associated with this motion. It
Describes the motion of an object projected
into the air under the influence of gravity.
This motion can be analyzed in two
dimensions, typically horizontal (x-axis) and
vertical (y-axis). Understanding projectile
motion is crucial in various fields, from
sports like basketball and baseball to
engineering and even space exploration.