Vertical and Horizontal Projectile
Practice
Level 1: Vertical Projectiles
For each scenario below, fill in the chart with + (for positive), - (for negative) or 0. Assume all the
scenarios below occur on earth.
Scenario
Godzilla throws a car at the ground in anger.
A penny is dropped off a building.
Before a serve, a tennis ball is tossed up in the
air.
A kangaroo jumps up.
A hatchet is tossed into the ground.
Initial Velocity
Acceleration
1. A young woman stands alone on top of the Eiffel Tower, 250 m above the ground. She
takes a ring out of her pocket, holds it out over the empty air, and lets it go. How long will
it take the ring to hit the ground?
2. A mad scientist throws a test tube at the ground. The test tube leaves her hand with a
speed of 3 m/s. It takes 0.2 seconds to fall. How fast is it going when it hits the ground?
3. You toss a ball straight up in the air. It travels upward for 2 seconds.
a. How high does the ball travel?
b. How long will it take for the ball to land back in your hand?
c. What is the ball’s velocity at apogee?
d. What is the ball’s acceleration at apogee?
4. Smashing Samantha is launched out of a rocket going straight up into the air at a velocity
of 24 m/s.
a. How high will she go? (29 m up)
b. How long will it take her to reach apogee?
c. How long will it take her to fall back to earth?
d. If she were to land back in the cannon- how fast would she be going when she
returns to the barrel?
5. A monkey angrily tosses poop down at an annoying tourist with a velocity of 2.6 m/s. The
poop is going 10.7 m/s when it hits the tourist.
a. How far did the poop to fall?
b. How long does the tourist have to react before the poop hits them?
6. You throw a ball straight up in the air. At apogee, what is the ball’s velocity? What is it’s
acceleration?
7. On the right, draw the position vs. time graph and the
velocity vs. time graph for a projectile thrown straight up
in the air.
Jedi Question
8. You are standing at the end of a building 30 m tall. You
throw a ball straight up 7 m. How long will it take the ball to
hit the ground?
Level 2: Review Constant Velocity and Accleration
Okay, in this section I want you to do something strange. Below, I have a mix of constant velocity
and acceleration problems. You need to decide which is which. Remember, constant
acceleration problems usually mention “constant speed” or “constant velocity” and you use
𝑣=
𝑑
𝑡
to solve them. Constant acceleration problems generally mention “acceleration”,
“speeding up”, “slowing down” or they mention a falling object.
Here is where it gets weird (you will have to trust me. If the problem is a constant velocity
problem, I want you to solve it in the box on the left labeled “Horizontal”. Leave the other
box blank. If the problem is a constant acceleration problem, solve the problem in the box
on the right, labeled “Vertical” and leave the other box blank.
1. A ball is moving horizontally at a constant velocity of 3.4 m/s. How far will the ball move
in 5 seconds?
Horizontal
Vertical
2. A ball is falling off a building, speeding up as it falls (of course). It falls for 6 seconds.
How far did the ball fall?
Horizontal
Vertical
3. A watermelon is dropped off a 12 m tall building. How long will it take the ball to hit the
ground?
Horizontal
Vertical
4. A paper airplane flies forward with a constant velocity of 12.6 m/s. How long will it take
the plane to fly 7 m?
Horizontal
Vertical
5. A bullet travels forward at a constant velocity. It travels 106 m in half a second. What is
the bullet’s velocity?
Horizontal
Vertical
6. A boulder rolls off a cliff. If the cliff is 78 m tall, how long will it take the boulder to reach the
ground below?
Horizontal
Vertical
Level 3: Horizontal Projectiles
There is a lab for this section, but no practice.
Level 4: Horizontal Projectile Problems
1. A skier flies off a horizontal jump that is 3.5 meters tall. The skier is moving 7.2 m/s when
she goes off the jump.
a. How long will she be in the air?
b. How far from the jump will she land?
Horizontal
𝑣=
𝑑=
𝑡=
Use:
𝑣=
𝑑
𝑡
Answer: a) 0.85 s b) 6.1 m
Vertical
𝑣𝑓 =
𝑣𝑖 =
𝑎=
𝑑=
𝑡=
Use:
Constant Acceleration equations
2. A motorcycle stunt driver zooms off the end of a cliff at a speed of 30 meters per second. If
he lands after 0.75 seconds, what is the height of the cliff?
Horizontal
𝑣=
𝑑=
𝑡=
Use:
𝑣=
𝑑
𝑡
Vertical
𝑣𝑓 =
𝑣𝑖 =
𝑎=
𝑑=
𝑡=
Use:
Constant Acceleration equations
Now, draw the chart yourself when solving the problems below. Remember to keep your
horizontal and vertical work separate. Don’t let them cross the line down the center or you
will get confused!
3. A stuntman drives a car off a bridge (horizontally) with a velocity of 18.4 m/s. The bridge
is 20 m tall.
a. How long will the car be in the air?
b. How far will the car land from where it was launched?
Answer: a) 2 s b) 40 m
4. A motorcycle stunt driver zooms off the end of a cliff at a speed of 30 meters per second. If
he lands after 0.75 seconds, what is the height of the cliff?
5. A ball rolls with a speed of 2.0 m/s across a level table that is 1.0 m above the floor. Upon
reaching the edge of the table, it follows a parabolic path to the floor. How far along the
floor is the landing spot from the table?
Jedi
Please complete these on a separate sheet of paper.
1. A rifle is fired horizontally and travels 200.0 m [E]. The rifle barrel is 1.90 m from the
ground. What speed must the bullet have been travelling at? Ignore friction.
2. A skier leaves the horizontal end of a ramp with a velocity of 25.0 m/s and lands 70.0 m
from the base of the ramp. How high is the end of the ramp from the ground?
Jedi Master
3. An astronaut stands on the edge of a lunar crater and throws a half-eaten Twinkie™
horizontally with a velocity of 5.00 m/s. The floor of the crater is 100.0 m below the
astronaut. What horizontal distance will the Twinkie™ travel before hitting the floor of the
crater? (The acceleration of gravity on the moon is 1/6th that of the Earth).
4. A rescue pilot drops a survival kit while her plane is flying at an altitude of 2000.0 m with
a forward velocity of 100.0 m/s. If air friction is disregarded, how far in advance of the
starving explorer’s drop zone should she release the package?
5. In tons of movies, a teenager runs off the flat roof of a house and lands in a pool. Let’s say
the teenager was going 3 m/s and ended up landing in a pool 5 meters away from the
side of the building. How fast was the teenager going when they hit the water?