Home › AP Physics 1 › Physics › Two-Dimensional Kinematics and Projectile Motion › Because gravity acts vertically, the horizontal …
Because gravity acts vertically, the horizontal acceleration of a projectile is:
AEqual to g
BTwice of g
CHalf of g
DExactly zero
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. Exactly zero
1. Acceleration follows the direction of the net force.
2. Because gravity is vertical, it has no horizontal component.
3. The horizontal acceleration of a projectile is therefore zero.
4. That is why horizontal velocity stays constant throughout the flight.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics for AP(R) Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 3 'Two-Dimensional Kinematics', sections 3.1-3.4_
Related questions
A projectile's horizontal velocity stays constant during flight because:Choosing which direction counts as positive in a projectile problem affects:The head-to-tail method gives the same resultant regardless of the order the vectors are dResolving projectile motion into perpendicular directions works because each direction canThe independence of horizontal and vertical motion means a ball dropped and a ball fired hThe two named approaches to vector addition and subtraction are graphical methods and:Subtracting vectors is described as analogous to the subtraction of:If you set up a coordinate system with downwards as positive, the acceleration due to grav