A ball can travel forward and fall at the same time
Drop one ball and launch another horizontally from the same height at the same instant. In an ideal model with gravity and no air resistance, both have the same downward acceleration and start with no vertical velocity. Explore why horizontal motion changes where a ball lands without changing that model's falling time.
Questions you could explore
- What must match for a dropped ball and a horizontally launched ball to reach the ground together?
- How does air resistance change the comparison between a dropped and a launched ball?
Start reading
- OpenStax, Rice UniversityCollege Physics 2e, 3.4: Projectile Motion
Explains horizontal and vertical components of projectile motion when gravity is the only force considered.
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