Moderate

A Stone thrown from the top of a tall building follows a path that is:

Correct answer: D. Parabolic

  • A. Circular
  • B. Made of two straight line segments
  • C. Hyperbolic
  • D. Parabolic

Explanation

After being thrown, the stone has constant horizontal velocity and constant downward acceleration due to gravity. Combining these motions gives a quadratic relation between vertical position and horizontal distance, which is a parabolic path. The likely choice is b, because students may picture the initial straight throw and the later fall as two separate straight-line segments.

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About Projectile Motion

Projectile motion combines uniform horizontal motion with vertically accelerated motion under gravity, assuming air resistance is neglected. Questions use the components of initial velocity to find time of flight, maximum height, horizontal range and position, while distinguishing projectile motion from general circular or one dimensional motion.

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