Why Horizontal Speed of a Projectile Remains Constant 🏹

🏹 Why the Horizontal Speed of a Projectile Never Changes

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When you launch a ball, an arrow, or even a rocket, its motion splits into two independent parts — horizontal and vertical.

The horizontal speed (velocity along the x-axis) stays constant throughout the flight, as long as air resistance is ignored. That’s because once the projectile leaves your hand, no external horizontal force acts on it — gravity only pulls vertically downward.

Meanwhile, the vertical speed changes continuously due to gravity’s acceleration (9.8 m/s²), causing the object to rise, slow down, stop momentarily, and then fall back.

Together, these two motions create the familiar parabolic path of a projectile.

So, even though the object looks like it’s curving through space, its horizontal motion is steady — a perfect demonstration of Newton’s First Law of Motion.

📍 Concept: Projectile Motion
🔬 Science: Classical Mechanics, Newton’s Laws, Kinematics

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