Kinematics of falling bodies

• Tips for solving kinematic problems:
  • draw a picture
  • draw and label coordinate axes
  • make sure that you know at least 3 quantities
  • pick the proper equation
  • solve
  Always ask at the end: "Does this make sense?"
• If one ignores air resistance, objects thrown into the air travel symmetrically up and down.
• Objects affected only by the force of gravity (that is, wingless objects in mid-air) are in freefall. They always accelerate at 9.8 m/s^2 downwards.
• Remember that a quadratic equation can have two solutions!

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Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.