(a) What is a projectile? (b) Give the reason why the horizontal component of the velocity of a projectile remains the same at every point of its flight.
Question 1 Report
(a) What is a projectile?
(b) Give the reason why the horizontal component of the velocity of a projectile remains the same at every point of its flight.
Answer Details
(a) A projectile is a body that is given an initial velocity and then moves freely under the action of gravity alone (its own weight), following a curved (parabolic) path. Examples are a thrown ball or a fired bullet.
(b) The horizontal component of the velocity remains constant throughout the flight because, neglecting air resistance, there is no horizontal force acting on the projectile. Gravity acts vertically downward only, so it changes the vertical component of velocity but has no component along the horizontal direction; hence the horizontal velocity is unchanged (zero horizontal acceleration).
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