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Question 9: An aero plan while traveling horizontally, dropped a bomb when it was exactly above the target. The bomb missed the target. Explain.

Answer

It should! When the bomb was in the aero plan, it was like part of the plane moving with the same velocity as that of the plane. So, when it was dropped, it had two types of velocities. One, the horizontal velocity equal to the velocity of the plane and second, the velocity due to the gravitational pull. Therefore, the bomb would go horizontally and at the same time falling down towards the earth. The actual velocity of the bomb would be the vector sum of both these velocities. Since one part of the velocity is horizontal and the other vertical, the bomb would hit the earth at some place well after the target.

Follow up question

Can you explain why the word ‘horizontally’ is used in the question? Do you know aero planes also can move vertically. Would the bomb have hit the target if it traveled vertically?

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  1. Pingback:Conceptual Questions Forces and Motion, Physics 11 – msa

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