PROJECTIL MOTION

ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to make a comprehensive study about motion of a projectile which is
lunched from a generic gun, in environment consisting in fluid under gravity, to aim a generic
target.
MOTION IN VACUM
The most simplified motion of a projectile could be considered the motion of a punctual
projectile with a given mass, in absence of atmosphere. There is no drag force, during the
trajectory. The motion is influenced only by the initial conditions, the initial velocity vector, and
the gravitational force.
First we take into consideration the following assumptions:
- The surface of Earth is horizontal;
- The gravitational force is independent of distance between Earth and projectile;

The second Newtons law for projectile can be written as follow:
dv
m G
dt
= (1)
Where:
m is mass of projectile;
v is velocity vector of projectile;
G is gravitational force.
We assume the gravitational force has constant magnitude and vertical direction during the entire
trajectory.
G mg = (2)
From (1) and (2) we can write:
dv
g
dt
= (3)
The relationship can be written in two coordinate system as follow:
0
x
dv
dt
= (4)
y
dv
g
dt
= (5)
The most common initial conditions for differential equations (4) and (5) are:
( )
0
0 v t v = = (6)
( )
0
0 t u u = = (7)
Where:
v is the magnitude of velocity;
is the angle between the direction of velocity vector and horizontal axis;
2 2 2
x y
v v v = + (8)
tan
y
x
v
v
u = (9)
cos
x
v v u = (10)
sin
y
v v u = (11)

Integrating equation (4) and (5) we obtain:
1 x
v C = (12)
2 y
v C gt = (13)
Taking into consideration the initial conditions (6) and (7) we obtain:
0 0
cos
x
v v u = (14)
0 0
sin
y
v v gt u = (15)
0
0 0
tan tan
cos
gt
v
u u
u
= (16)
From (15) we can calculate the time after the projectile reach the highest position of the
trajectory. The highest position of trajectory is reached when the vertical component of velocity
becomes zero.
0 0
sin 0
H
v gt u = (17)
0
0
sin
H
v
t
g
u = (18)
To obtain the trajectory equation we have to consider the relationships (14) and (15) as
differential equations as follow:
0 0
cos
dx
v
dt
u = (19)
0 0
sin
dy
v gt
dt
u = (20)
where x and y are the horizontal and vertical coordinates related to a specific frame.
The initial conditions for equations (19) and (20) can be written as follow:
( )
0
0 x t x = = (21)
( )
0
0 y t y = = (22)
where x
0
and y
0
are the initial coordinate of projectile related to a specific frame.
Taking into consideration the equations (21) and (22) the solutions for equations (19) and (20)
are:
( )
0 0 0
cos x t x v t u = + (23)
( )
2
0 0 0
sin
2
t
y t y v t g u = + (24)
The explicit relationship of trajectory becomes:
( ) ( ) ( )
2
0 0 0 0 2 2
0 0
1
tan
2 cos
g
y x y x x x x
v
u
u
= + (25)
Taking into consideration relationship (18) we can calculate the coordinates of the highest point
of trajectory as follow:
2
0
0 0 0
sin cos
H
v
x x
g
u u = + (26)
2
2 0
0 0
1
sin
2
H
v
y H y
g
u = = + (27)
The horizontal range can be calculated from (25) when the vertical coordinate of the projectile
becomes again equal with the initial vertical coordinate.
( )
2
0
0 0 0 0
2 sin cos
v
X x y y x
g
u u = = = (28)
DRAG FORCE
In the fluid dynamics, the drag equation is a formula used to calculate
the force of drag experienced by an object due to the movement
through a fully enclosing fluid. The formula is accurate only under
certain conditions: the object must have a blunt form and the fluid
must a large Reynolds number to produce turbulence behind the
object.
The general form of drag force is:
2
1
2
D D
A F v C = (29)
where:
- F
D
is the drag force which is by definition the force
component in the direction of the flow velocity;
- is the mass density of the fluid;
- v is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid;
- A is the reference area;
- C
D
is the drag coefficient a dimensionless coefficient related to the objects geometry
and taking in account both skin friction and form drag;

The mass density of air at temperature T=20
0
C, and pressure p=1 atm=101.325 kPais
1.2401Kg = (30)
The movement equation of projectile in presence of the drag force is given by:
D
dv
m F G
dt
= + (31)
where

is the drag force vector, and has contrary direction to the velocity vector.
The equation (31) can be written in projection on the rectangular axes:
2
cos
2
x D
dv C A
v
dt m

u = (32)
2
sin
2
y
D
dv
C A
v g
dt m

u = (33)
Taking into considerations relationships (8) to (11) the differential equations (32) and (33)
become:

2 2
2 2
2
2
x D
x x y
y
D
y x y
x
y
dv C A
v v v
dt m
dv
C A
v v v g
dt m
dx
v
dt
dy
v
dt

= +

= +

(34)
The initial conditions for differential equations system (34) are:
( )
( )
( )
( )
0 0
0 0
0
0
0 cos
0 sin
0
0
x
y
v t v
v t v
x t x
y t y
u
u
= =

= =

= =

= =

(35)