The motion of the person as he jumps is parabolic.īasketball: When a basketball is thrown into the basket, the ball Travels a parabolic trajectory and then goes into the basket. Gymnastics: In gymnastics, a person does many stunts and jumps from one pole to another. Watching pole vault will make projectile motion more clear to you. Pole vault: Pole vault is similar to the long jump but here a pole is used to clear a certain height. A maximum distance is obtained at a jump angle of 45°. In order to maximize the distance, the angle of the jump is very crucial. Long jump: In the sport of the long jump an athlete has to jump so as to get the maximum distance. The person follows a parabolic path and then again Falls back on the stadium or on the ground.

Stunts in a skateboard or a bike: You must have seen stunts performed skateboarder or a biker. Water gushing out from a pipe is an example of projectile motion

Water from a hosepipe : You must have seen the motion of water from a hose pipe especially from a high-pressure hose pipe. The water does not fall down immediately but undergoes a parabolic path before it reaches the ground. This is useful in controlling the motion of the water so that it falls on the desired location only. The ball again follows the parabolic motion and then lands at a specific location. The angle and the force applied are very important for the ball to land at the desired location. Golf ball: In a game of golf, a Golf ball is hit by a Golf stick. The angle of the throw is again crucial here. The athlete again follows a uniform circular motion to generate the maximum force on the ball. The ball follows a parabolic path and then falls at a certain distance. Shot put: This is a sport similar to javelin throw instead a small heavy piece of the metal ball is used to be thrown. The javelin travels a certain distance and then falls down following a parabolic path. The angle of the throw is very crucial as it determines the distance traveled by the javelin. Wind factors like wind speed and wind direction are also crucial here as they may affect the motion of the projectile. This is similar to hammer throw, but here a person runs a short distance to get some amount of momentum and then throws the javelin. Javelin throw: In a game of javelin throw a javelin is thrown to the maximum distance. The laws of projectile motion are applied here to get the maximum benefit out of the throw. The hammer has to be thrown at a specific angle so as to get maximum distance. Hammer throw: In a game of hammer throw, a person has to throw a hammer to the maximum distance. So in order to gain maximum distance the person goes into circular motion to get a centrifugal force and then throws the hammer. The path is likely to be parabolic in nature depending on the angle at which it is launched. Even today, we can see that in the game of archery when an arrow is fired at an angle to the ground, it follows a parabolic path of a projectile and then hits the target.īaseball: In a game of baseball A ball is hit by the bat and it is launched into the air. If you observe carefully then you will see that the ball does not follow a uniform circular path. A well-known example of a catapult is the trebuchet which uses a long arm to throw projectiles over long distances.īow and arrows/ slingshots: Bow and arrow and slingshots are also weapons that were widely used in ancients days before the introduction of gunpowder. The calculations are so made based on the force and weight of the projectile so that the projectile falls on the desired target. A cannon is a large tubular firearm used to fire objects. The motion of a cannonball: You must have seen old video clippings of war where cannon guns were used. Notice the parabolic path followed by the projectile(football).

So, when we throw a ball horizontally in the air, then it does a parabola-like loop and then falls down. This is an example of projectile motion. This happens with any object that we throw at an angle to the ground. The main force acting on the object during travel is the gravitational force. But when we throw it at an angle, then it travels for a distance and then falls down. This path followed by the object seems to be like a parabola. This part is not linear nor circular, this is called projectile motion, and the path followed by the object is called a trajectory.

Throwing a ball or anything: When we throw any object up into the sky we see that it eventually comes down. Now let us discuss each one of the projectile motion examples in detail:

Projectile motion