Concept Summary Batesville High School Physics

1. Projectiles & Vectors Concept Summary Batesville High School Physics

2. Projectiles • A projectile is an object moving in 2 dimensions under the influence of gravity. For example, a ball moving through the air is a projectile. • We will ignore the effects of air resistance on the projectile (for now).

3. Components of a Motion • In general, any two-dimensional motion is made up of two, independent, simultaneous one-dimensional motions at right angles to each other. These are called components of the motion.

4. Components of Projectile Motion • The horizontal component of the motion of a projectile is motion with constant velocity. • The vertical component of the motion of a projectile is motion with constant acceleration.

5. An Alternative • To find the position of a projectile after time t: • First, find the position it would have if it had continued to move in its initial direction at constant velocity. • Its position is the distance that it would free fall from rest from that point in t seconds.

6. Range of a Projectile • Maximum range occurs at a launch angle of 45o. • Range at angle  range at angle 90o - 

7. Vectors & Scalars • Vector quantities have both magnitude (size) and direction in space. (velocity, acceleration, etc.) • Scalar quantities have magnitude but no direction in space. (time, speed)

8. Vectors & Scalars • Scalars are numbers (with units) and they combine like numbers. • Vectors are not numbers, and they do not combine like numbers.

9. Representing Vectors • Since vectors have both magnitude and direction, they are best represented by arrows. 3 m/s

10. “Adding” Vectors • Graphically, vectors can be added using the “parallelogram” method.