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Analytical Description of Parabolic Motion

Preprint · February 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15819.90409

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 Analytical Description of Parabolic Motion

© David Velasco Villamizar∗

Centro de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas, Universidade Estadual do Paraná, União da Vitória, CEP 84600-185, Brazil
(Dated: February 1, 2018)

upposing a soccer player kicking a ball initially on the

S ground, in such a way that it is throw into the air ac-
quiring a certain initial velocity unknown for us. Due to
the action of the constant earth’s gravitational accelera-
2
tion g = 9, 80 m/s along the vertical direction, the ball
undergoes a uniform acceleration motion at the same di-
rection of gravity, and a constant motion along of the
horizontal direction. Neglecting the air drag, we can say
that the ball’s movement is a perfect parabolic motion.
In the one hand, a girl student of physics witnessed the
whole phenomenon and got the following conclusion, the
trajectory described by the ball is symmetrical respect
Figure 1. Pictorial representation of the physical phe-
of her position, because the apex of the movement co- nomenon, according to the point of view of the girl math-
incided with her horizontal position, in other words, the ematician student.
ball flew over her head, see Figure 1. On the other hand,
another person at a distance, a girl student of mathe-
matics who also witnessed the physical phenomenon too. the variable x,
Wishing to put in practice her calculus knowledge, alge-
braically she determined a concave-down parabola func- dy
y 0 (x) = = −2Ax + B. (2)
tion y(x), which describes the vertical position of the dx
ball as a function of the horizontal distance x respect to
the position of the girl student of physics x = 0. Thus, Even though this kind of information is very important,
y(x) = −Ax2 +Bx+C, where A, B and C are known real it’s not enough for describing the kinematic of this phe-
constants, where A is expresses in the SI units as (m−1 ), nomenon. Nevertheless, when we evaluate this function
B unitless and C in (m). at the left horizontal root xL , we obtain the initial slope
The objective of this problem is to provide a broader of the tangent line to the trajectory at the initial point,
understanding for undergraduate physicist, mathemati- p
cian or engineers students about of the two-dimensional y 0 (xL ) = B 2 +4AC. (3)
kinematics of the parabolic motion [1], describing it al-
The mathematical interpretation of this result is equal to
gebraically and making a parametrization of it through
tan θ0 , where θ0 is the angle of the tangent slope at the
some physical notions to obtain the equations of motion
initial point of the trajectory. Then, we can determine
in function of time.
respect for the horizontal line the angle at which the ball
To begin the analysis, we calculate the roots of the tra-
was kicked by the football player,
jectory function given by the girl mathematics student,
to simplify our calculation we denote the roots in relation p 
to its horizontal position from the physics girl student, θ0 = arctan B 2 +4AC . (4)
where xL and xR are the initial and final position, re-
spectively. Thus, Additionally, we can express the others trigonometric re-
√ √ lations of θ0 , just using a very simple trick, a√rectangular
B − B 2 +4AC B + B 2 +4AC triangle in which the opposite side to θ0 is B 2 +4AC,
xL = , xR = . (1) and the adjacent side is equal to one. According to the
2A 2A √
Pythagorean theorem, the hypotenuse is B 2 +4AC +1,
Thus,
√ the maximum horizontal range got by the ball as is shown in Figure 2. In this way, sine and cosine of
is B 2 +4AC/A. Calculating the instantaneous rate of the initial angle θ0 are written as,
change of the ball trajectory with respect to the horizon- √
tal displacement of the ball, we obtain a function that B 2 +4AC
describes the behavior of the tangent line in relation to sin θ0 = √ , (5a)
B 2 +4AC +1
1
cos θ0 = √ . (5b)
2
B +4AC +1
∗ david.velasco.v@gmail.com
If we suppose that after kicking the ball, it acquires an
David Velasco Villamizar © All Right Reserved

direction are,
r
g
v0x = , (11a)
2A
r p
g
v0y = B 2 +4AC. (11b)
2A

Therefore, the kinematic equations of the ball movement

are,
Figure 2. This rectangular triangle lets us to obtain sine and
cosine of θ0 , just associating the definition of tan θ0 . √ r
B − B 2 +4AC g
x(t) = +t , (12a)
2A 2A
r p
unknown value of initial velocity v0 . Based on the previ- g 1
y(t) = t B 2 +4AC − gt2 . (12b)
ous idea and using eq. (5), we can express the horizon- 2A 2
tal and vertical component of the initial velocity, respec-
tively, In essence, these kinematic expressions will allow us to
characterize completely the movement of the soccer ball.
v0 For example, we can determine tf as the time spent by
v0x = √ , (6a)
2
B +4AC +1
√ the ball to make the whole trajectory, simply equating
v0 B 2 +4AC eq. (12a) with the final position xR . In this way,
v0y = √ . (6b)
B 2 +4AC +1 xR = x(tf ),
√ √
Particularly, this decomposition of the initial velocity (13)
r
B+ B 2 +4AC B − B 2 +4AC g
vector lets us to describe much better this physical phe- = + tf ,
2A 2A 2A
nomenon. For instance, parameterizing the horizontal
position of the ball in function of time t in seconds, and Isolating tf from last expression,
defining the initial position x(t = 0) = xL , then, we can √
express the horizontal motion by the kinematic equation B 2 +4AC
of a constant movement, tf = p . (14)
gA/2

x(t) = xL + v0x t, Also, calculating the first time derivation of eq. (12b),
√ we get the instantaneous vertical velocity function in re-
B − B 2 +4AC v0 t (7) lation of time,
= +√ .
2A 2
B +4AC +1 r p
dy g
Substituting x(t) into y(x), in other words, making a ẏ(t) = = B 2 +4AC − gt. (15)
dt 2A
function composition (y ◦ x)(t), we obtain a kinematic
expression that describes the vertical position of the ball So, when ẏ = 0 we can determine the instant th , at which
in function of time, the ball reaches its maximum height,
√ √
−Av02 t2 v0 t B 2 +4AC B 2 +4AC
y(t) = 2 +√ . (8) th = √ , (16)
B +4AC +1 B 2 +4AC +1 2gA

In addition, the second time derivation of y(t) is physi- it’s worth to be mentioned that th = tf /2. Physically,
cally related to the vertical acceleration, which is equal this fact means a symmetry relation between the upwards
to minus g, and downwards movements in relation to the apex of this
parabolic trajectory. Evaluating eq. (12b) at th , and
d2 y −2Av02 after some algebraic steps we get the maximum height
ÿ(t) = = . (9)
dt2 B 2 +4AC +1 reaches by the ball as,
In this way, we can obtain the initial velocity module B 2 +4AC
by knowing the constants A, B and C of the trajectory ymax = . (17)
4A
function,
r p On the other hand, wishing to further analyze the
g kinematics of the physical phenomenon described above
v0 = B 2 +4AC +1. (10)
2A which is characterized by the equations (12). We
would like to make a connection between a physical no-
It implies that, the initial velocity components along each tion apparently disconnected with this two-dimensional
 David Velasco Villamizar © All Right Reserved

tion along to the perpendicular direction to the trajectory

as,
q
a⊥ = a2 − a2k ,
r
vy2 (21)
=g 1− ,
v
vx
Figure 3. Schematic representation of the acceleration vector = g.
v
decomposition in relation to the velocity vector direction and
its perpendicular direction. Besides this result, and according to the geometry of vec-
tor differentiation [3], we can say that the vector accel-
eration component ~a⊥ is always pointing to the center of
parabolic motion, this is the circular motion. Through the trajectory curvature. Physically ~a⊥ is associated to
this physical concept, we show the radius of curvature the centripetal acceleration of the circular motion, where
at any instant of time at trajectory of the soccer ball. the module of this is expressed in function of tangential
For this purpose, we calculate the first time derivative velocity and the radius of curvature R, as a⊥ = v 2 /R.
of the equations (12). In this way we can express the Hence, the radius of curvature of the soccer ball motion
instantaneous velocity vector as, is,
"r # "r # √ "
g g p 2 2A g
B 2 +4AC +1


~v = x̂ + B +4AC − gt ŷ, (18) R = 3/2
2A 2A g 2A
r #3/2 (22)
According to the Pythagorean theorem, the module of g 2 2
the instantaneous velocity is, − 2gt (B 2 +4AC)+g t .
2A
"
g Therefore, this result lets us to know how large is the
B 2 +4AC +1


v=
2A radius of curvature of the soccer ball trajectory. Even
r #1/2 (19) though this information is not very intuitive, we advice
g 2 2 to the reader to explore this on line application [4] to
− 2gt (B 2 +4AC)+g t . have a much better comprehension of how change R at
2A
every point of the parabolic motion.
Naturally, we know that the total vector acceleration
of the soccer ball is completely vertical and constant
~a = −g ŷ. Also, the velocity vector is always tangent on CONCLUSIONS
the trajectory, that lets us to define a two-dimensional
rectangular coordinate in relation to ~v , as is shown in Starting from a very elementary knowledge of
Figure 3. Thus, by the definition of the scalar product quadratic functions, in this article we could present a
and the unitary velocity vector v̂ = ~v /v, we determine physical discussion of the parabolic motion done by a
the module of the acceleration component parallel to the kicked soccer ball. Humbly, we consider that this kind of
tangent direction to trajectory, discussion is not common enough in the various physics
books nor explained in classics, but it is quite valuable be-
ak = ~a · v̂, cause it allows to students and teachers to bring together
−g
r p
g

(20) topics that are apparently disconnected as: analysis and
= 2
B +4AC − gt . function parametrization, besides the two-dimensional
v 2A
kinematics and some notions of circular motion.
Additionally, we can express the module of the accelera-

[1] D. Halliday, R. Resnick, and J. Walker, Fundamentals of Edition. Metric ed. New York :: McGraw-Hill Book, 1974.
Physics, 5th ed. (Wiley, 1997). [4] Acess to https://www.geogebra.org/m/W9BXkhUW.
[2] Pirooz Mohazzabi and Zahra A. Kohneh, Projectile
Motion Without Trigonometric Functions, The Physics
Teacher 43, 2 (2005).
[3] Spiegel, Murray R. Theory and Problems of Vector Anal-
ysis and an Introduction to Tensor Analysis: SI (metric)

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