Projectile Motion Practice Problems

1. In the movie Thelma and Louise, the two actresses drove off a cliff at the end. In
preparation for the scene, their stunt doubles determined that the cliff was 50.0 m high.
The director wants the car to land 90.0 m from the base of the cliff close to the camera
location. How fast must the car be travelling in order to land at this location? [101 km/h]

2. In Pirates of the Caribbean, a cannon was fired at an enemy ship. The muzzle velocity
was 60.0 m/s. At what angle above the horizontal must the cannon have been aimed in
order to hit the enemy ship 320. m away? [30.3°, 59.5°]

3. An airplane loaded with flame retardant travels horizontally at 200. km/h. The altimeter
indicates that the plane is 180. m above the ground. The pilot wants to know how far in
advance of the fire to release the retardant. Please assist her.[336 m]

4. A projectile is shot from the edge of a cliff 125 m above the ground. It has an initial
velocity 50.0 m/s 37.0° above the horizontal at the launch point. a) Determine the time
taken to reach the ground. b) How far is this point from the base of the cliff? c) What is
the magnitude and direction of the final velocity just before the point of impact?

5. Luca Congi of the 2007 Grey Cup Champions Saskatchewan Roughriders kicks the
football with an initial speed of 64 f/s 45.0° above the ground. D.J. Flick, standing on the
goal line 60.0 yards away in the direction of the kick, starts running to meet the ball the
instant it is kicked.. Neglecting air resistance, what must be his average speed in order to
catch the ball just before it hits the ground? [19 f/ s] 1 m = 3.28 f, 1 yard = 3 f

6. Hank (Henry) Aaron hits a baseball 1.10 m off the ground. The ball leaves his bat with a
velocity of 40.0 m/s at 37.3° above the horizontal. To score a homerun, the ball must
cross a 3.00 m high fence 104 m from the batter. Did Hank score a homer? Prove your
result.

7. During the Canadian Amateur Open Tennis Match, Eli serves the ball with a horizontal
velocity of 23.6 m/s 2.37 m above the court surface. By how much does the ball clear the
net which is 12.0 m away and 0.900 m high? If Eli served the ball with the same speed
but 5.00° below the horizontal, would he still clear the net? Prove your answer.[ 20.0 cm]

8. Reika kicks the soccer ball with a velocity of 15 m/s 38° above the horizontal. a) how
long will the ball be in the air? b) how far downfield will it land? c) how high did the ball
go? [1.9 s; 22 m; 4.4 m]
9. In a soon to be released Bollywood film, Sagar will co-star with Aishwarya Rai. They
compete in a frog jumping contest. Sagar’s frog jumps with an initial velocity of 5.0 m/s
at an angle of 20.5° above the horizontal while Ash’s initial velocity is 5.4 m/s at an
angle of 25.0° above the horizontal. The winner’s frog must have the greater range.
Declare a winner and prove your results.

10. An artillery gun fires a shell. The initial velocity of the shell in the x-direction is 360. m/s
and the initial velocity in the y-direction is 210. m/s. Neglecting air resistance and
assuming that the gun and the target are at the same level, find a) how long the shell will
stay in the air and b) how far down range will the shell hit the target?[42.9 s, 15.4 km]