Projectile Motion

Projectile motion refers to the motion of a projected object (e.g., a shot put, a javelin, a human body during pole-vaulting) acted on by forces of gravity.

For simplicity, air resistance is considered negligible in the following cases.

In sports, once the projected object is released or thrown in the air, control of the object is no longer possible. Therefore, it is important to consider the following factors that affect the flight path of the projectile prior to its release:

b. Angle of release

Angle of release refers to the angle at which the projectile is thrown with respect to the positive x axis or horizontal level to the right. The direction of projection with respect to the horizontal determines the shape of flight. A higher projection angle will result in a higher maximum height achieved by the projectile. When the relative projection height is zero, for the projectile to achieve a greater maximum distance, the projection angle should be close to 45 degrees.

Angle of Release	maximum height	maximum distance	flight time
0	0 m	0 m	0 s
15	0.68 m	10.19 m	0.75 s
30	2.55 m	17.66 m	1.44 s
45	5.10 m	20.39 m	2.04 s
60	7.65 m	17.66 m	2.50 s
75	9.51 m	10.19 m	2.78 s
90	10.19 m	0 m	2.88 s

More details can be explored on the simulation above