What's the best way to solve projectile problems in Mechanics?

Getting a complicated problem of a mass being projected at a weird angle can seem daunting at first but these problems can be solved easily by breaking them down into two simpler problems.Using trigonometry, we can split the magnitude of the velocity into it's horizontal and vertical components which essentially defines what proportion of the speed is travelling in that particular direction. With this done, we can apply the SUVAT equations in these different directions, remembering that acceleration in the horizontal direction will be zero (if there is no air resistance), reducing it to a simple speed = distance/time equation and the acceleration in the vertical direction is +- 9.8 m/s^2 due to gravity. The next useful trick is knowing that the time of travel will be the same for both the horizontal and vertical directions, allowing you to sub in this value to solve for more unknown variables in either direction!

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Answered by Olumuyiwa A. Further Mathematics tutor

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