It isn't. Any projectile path is elliptical or round. One-half of an ellipse in polar coordinates mapped (not just converted) into Cartesian coordinates is a parabola. If you get this far, any projectile path on a spherical Earth's surface would be elliptical, but if you turned the Earth inside out, the path would be hypocycloidal. Hope this helps. ===========================================
??? An ORBIT is elliptical. But the behavior of an ordinary projectile over non-planetary distances is effectively that of an object launched at an angle with regard to a plane in a uniform gravitational field - over short distances the earth's surface is reasonably close to a plane and gravity acts essentially perpendicular to that plane. So, an object launched at an angle θ with a velocity of vo moves in two dimensions. It has a constant velocity vo * cos(θ) horizontally and a downward acceleration that's proportional to sin(θ) and the acceleration of gravity g.
The constant horizontal velocity means that the horizontal (x-axis) distance covered is directly proportional to the flight time, while the accelerating vertical velocity means the vertical (y-axis) distance is proportional to the square of the flight time. But that's exactly the relationship that describes a parabola; i.e. y = kx2
The projectile doesn't act as a parabola, but a graph of the magnitude of its
velocity vs time does.
In projectile motion, the horizontal component of velocity is constant and the
vertical component is accelerated. The 2-dimensional resultant of one constant
component and an accelerated one is a parabola.
It will only approximate a parabolic path (you have to ignore the effect of air resitance, the coriolis effect, the reduction of gravity at higher altitudes etc.) If we do ignore all these (rater small) effects the simple answer is that there is a gravitational field that operates on the projectile. The initial velocity of the projectile is acted upon by the vector of gravity.
Parabolic Path of a Projectile
Easily:
In the vertical direction
F=ma=md2ydt2=−mg
Integrated twice we obtain
y(t)=y(0)+vy(0)t−12gt2
Which is indeed the equation of a parabola with respect to time.
Now in the x-direction, we have
x(t)=x(0)+vx(0)t
since there is no force in this direction. It should be clear that if we re-write y(t) in terms of x(t), by solving for t in the above equation, y(t) will also be a parabola in terms of x.
It is, to a first approximation, assuming air resistance can be neglected, and assuming the path is relatively short. Actually, any object moving around Earth travels in an ellipse; so the parabola is only an approximation - valid if you consider Earth's surface to be flat, and gravity not to change with altitude.
The gravitational attraction on the projectile will pull it pack down to Earth.
The path of a projectile is a parabola. This is a two dimensional motion.
Its trajectory.
Yes, that is usually correct.
trajectory
projectile motion
A projectile doesn't follow a circular path. It follows a parabolic path. No part of a circle has the same shape as any part of a parabola. They're different curves.
Since I have read that the path of a projectile is always a parabola, I must say no. The parabolic shape of a projectile's path results from the combination of the force and direction with which it is launched and its weight.A ball rolling down a slope, is not Projectile Motion. While a cannon ball can be used to be a projectile, as far as Physics goes, that is not how it is operating at the moment (rolling down a slope).
The curved path is called a trajectory
If there's no influence from air resistance, then the path of a "projectile" is a parabola. That's what you get when one component of velocity is constant and its other (orthogonal) component is accelerated.
Trajectory is the path a projectile follows Parabola is the shape of this path
The path of a projectile in earth gravity is that of a parabola.
projectile motion
A projectile doesn't follow a circular path. It follows a parabolic path. No part of a circle has the same shape as any part of a parabola. They're different curves.
An object projected by force and continuing in motion by its own inertia.An objectile is a a projectile only when it is in a state of motion,usually it covers a parabola shape path.
Since I have read that the path of a projectile is always a parabola, I must say no. The parabolic shape of a projectile's path results from the combination of the force and direction with which it is launched and its weight.A ball rolling down a slope, is not Projectile Motion. While a cannon ball can be used to be a projectile, as far as Physics goes, that is not how it is operating at the moment (rolling down a slope).
a parabola
The curved path is called a trajectory
A parabola is the curved path of a projectile is the result of constant motion horizontallt and accelerated motion vertically under the influrnce of gravity.
If there's no influence from air resistance, then the path of a "projectile" is a parabola. That's what you get when one component of velocity is constant and its other (orthogonal) component is accelerated.
Without air resistance, the path of a projectile over a small part of the Earth's surface, under the influence of gravity alone, is always a piece of a parabola ... as long as it's not launched straight up or straight down.
It's the path the object follows while traveling forward and being affected by gravity. It's usually some kind of a parabola.