What type of motion is the horizontal motion of projectile?

Answer 1

All projectiles move like a parabola.

To solve for projectiles we refer to the equations of motion.

There are 3 equations which are commonly known as the

Kinematic Equations

1) Velocity as a function of time

V = V_0 + a * t

2) Displacement as a function of time

X-X_0 = V_0*t + 1/2 a * t²

3) Velocity as function of position

V² = V_0² + 2 a ( X - X_0)

We can rewrite EQ2 for horizontal motion

X = X_0 + V_0 * t + 1/2 a * t²

Because there is no gravity horizontally there is no horizontal acceleration. The ONLY acceleration would come from friction with the air. In most basic phsyics courses we say frictional force is negligible. If space was more fluidic this would be different, however it is not considered to be.

Thus we have

X = X_0 + V_0 * t

What this equation tells us is...

If we know the initial velocity when the projectile is launched

then we can calculate its new position horizontally because

the velocity was constant.

We simply multiply the time to the velocity to get a distance traveled.

Then add that distance to the initial position of the object to get its current

location with respect to where it used to be.