A Football's Fight
Parabolic
flight pattern
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What kind of flight pattern does
a football's flight take?
When a football
is thrown, the ball's flight will form a parabolic
curve as pictured above. The curve is created by
the gravitational force the earth has on the ball
accelerating the football downwards at 9.8m/s²,
while the football maintains a relatively constant
horizontal velocity (though this isn't true due to
air drag, let's assume it is). The equation that
maps this curve is: distance = vint²sin(2ø)/g,
where vint is
initial velocity, ø is the
angle the football is thrown,
and g is 9.8m/s².
Note, this formula will map
any projectile! (Assuming no
air drag, of course).