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With air resistance, why does the horizontal range decrease and why is it steeper during the descent phase?

Physics Asked on March 11, 2021

IN RELATION TO PROJECTILE MOTION

I’ve been trying to grasp this concept but cannot figure it out.
enter image description here

From what i understand, the x-component only has air resistance acting on it so it slows it down quite a bit in the horizontal direction. I’m not sure how to correlate this concept with explaining the distorted shape of the curve though.

One Answer

That’s because air resistance is acting in both directions. Air surrounds the entire projectile and not just the surface facing the x-direction.

If you look at the diagram above you will note that the vector $vec F_{ar}$ has components in both the $x$ and $y$ directions.

It gets steeper in the later phase of its flight since it is experiencing this resistance force - which is proportional to $v^2$ - for the greatest amount of time (prior to just falling almost straight to the ground).

Answered by joseph h on March 11, 2021

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