JEE Main & Advanced Physics Two Dimensional Motion Introduction of Projectile Motion

The motion of an object is called two dimensional, if two of the three co-ordinates required to specify the position of the object in space, change w.r.t. time.

In such a motion, the object moves in a plane. For example, a billiard ball moving over the billiard table, an insect crawling over the floor of a room, earth revolving around the sun etc.

Two specila cases of motion in two dimensions are 

1. Projectile motion

2. Circular motion 

A hunter aims his gun and fires a bullet directly towards a monkey sitting on a distant tree. If the monkey remains in his position, he will be safe but at the instant the bullet leaves the barrel of gun, if the monkey drops from the tree, the bullet will hit the monkey because the bullet will not follow the linear path.  

The path of motion of a bullet will be parabolic and this motion of bullet is defined as projectile motion.

If the force acting on a particle is oblique with initial velocity then the motion of particle is called projectile motion.