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Home Minds On Vectors and Projectiles Mission VP8 Velocity and Acceleration of a Projectile Help Help 2

Mission VP8 Velocity and Acceleration of a Projectile

The Question

The acceleration of a projectile has the greatest (or smallest) magnitude ...

Define Help

Definition of a Projectile:
A projectile is an object for which the only force acting upon it is gravity. The force of air resistance is negligibly small or nonexistent for a projectile.

Think About It

Forces, when unbalanced, cause objects to accelerate. The magnitude of the acceleration is directly proportional to the magnitude of the unbalanced force (a = Fnet/ m). If the magnitude of the net force is changing, then the acceleration will change as well. If the magnitude of the net force is constant, the acceleration will be a constant value. For a projectile, the unbalanced or net force is gravity. The magnitude of the force of gravity is dependent upon the mass of an object and the gravitational field constant (g)- see Formula Frenzy section

Formula Fix

The force of gravity (Fgrav) that acts upon an object is mathematically related to the mass of an object (m) by the equation:
 
Fgrav= mass • g
 
where g is the acceleration caused by gravity alone. The value of g on Earth is 9.8 m/s/s (approximately 10 m/s/s).

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