A study for determining the launch angle that maximises the total distance travelled by the projectile during its flight in the projectile motion

摘要

In this study, the relationship between the total distance traveled by the projectile during its flight in the projectile motion and the launch angle for a fixed initial speed was investigated. Assuming that the effect of air resistance is neglected and the free fall acceleration is constant throughout the range of motion, among all possible launch angles for a fixed initial speed, it is noticed that there is a unique launch angle, θ_0, max which allows the total distance to be the longest. Thus, the θ_0, max value has been determined to be about 56.5? using a simple mathematical method that students can easily apply.