Question

1. ignoring air resistance, the shape of a projectiles trajectory is all or part of which geometric shape?

cone

square

parabola

circle

clear all

Explanation:

In projectile motion (ignoring air resistance), the horizontal motion is uniform (constant velocity) and vertical motion is uniformly accelerated (due to gravity). The equations of motion for horizontal (\(x = v_{0x}t\)) and vertical (\(y = v_{0y}t - \frac{1}{2}gt^2\)) can be combined to eliminate time \(t\), resulting in a quadratic equation in \(x\) and \(y\), which represents a parabola. A cone, square, or circle do not match the kinematic behavior of a projectile.

Answer:

Parabola (the option with "Parabola" text)