Question

What are some real life applications of projectile motion?

Answer 1

Hint: Projectile motion is nothing but the motion of a body under the action of a gravitational pull. When a body has some component of velocity along the horizontal axis, then the body under the force of gravity traces a parabolic path. Such a motion is called projectile motion which has a wide range of applications from sport to science.

Complete step-by-step solution:

One of the most prominent examples of projectile motion is the motion of the ball under the action of gravity when thrown or hit, having some horizontal component of velocity moving upwards. In sports like basketball projectile motion plays a very crucial role. Let us say if the thrower needs to project the ball into the basket from a specific point on the court, then he should project that ball at the particular angle and particular initial speed so that the ball cover’s required distance in order for the team to score the points.
Another masterpiece of projectile motion is the motion of the bodies that are given sufficient velocities to escape the Earth’s gravitational field. Even though the spaceships are projected vertically, they still get curved at particular heights as Earth is not flat and hence there is some component of gravity that pulls and gets the spaceships to trace a curve instead of a vertical path. The spaceships undergo a projectile motion. The escape of the spaceship into the space depends only on the horizontal component of velocity and not the altitude.

Note: It is to be noted that the motion of the body in space under the action of gravity in reality does not only depend on the initial velocity and the initial angle of projection. But it also depends on the air drag and hence the path traced is not a perfect parabola. It is also to be noted that the value of acceleration due to gravity at a particular altitude changes and hence it is very important to consider these factors as well.