Home › AP Physics 1 › Physics › Two-Dimensional Kinematics and Projectile Motion › The independence of horizontal and vertical moti…
The independence of horizontal and vertical motion means a ball dropped and a ball fired horizontally from the same height will:
ALand at different moments
BNever reach the ground
CFollow identical paths
DLand at the same moment
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. Land at the same moment
1. The vertical motion is governed by gravity alone in both cases.
2. The horizontal and vertical components of two-dimensional motion are independent of each other.
3. The horizontal velocity of the fired ball therefore does not affect how fast it falls.
4. Both balls have the same vertical motion and so hit the ground together.
5. Their paths differ, since only one of them travels sideways.
_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 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 gravBecause gravity acts vertically, the horizontal acceleration of a projectile is: