Sunday, April 25, 2010



The picture above is an example of Projectile Motion at an Angle.  As I rolled off this kicker, many things occurred because of projectile motion.  First off, The reason this is at an angle is because the kicker is at an angle with the ground as opposed to just rolling off an edge.  So right as my board is exiting the ramp, it has an initial velocity and x and y components to go with it.  The horizontal component of the ramp will be the same throughout my board's projectile motion.  The x-component does not change.  The vertical component, however, changes.  Right as the board exits the ramp the y-component is the initial velocity times the sin of theta.  During the actual projectile motion of the board in the air the equation for the y-component of the velocity is this:

Once the board reaches the highest point in its motion, the vertical component of the velocity is always 0.       It is about this point that is depicted in the picture above.  Since the place where I began my projectile motion is above the point where I will land, there are points right before I land where the y-component of my velocity will be more than the original y-component of the board's initial velocity.  The picture above is a appropriate picture to show projectile motion at an angle.