Projectile motion: Shape of trajectory under uniform gravity Statement to evaluate: "The path (trajectory) of an ideal projectile is a parabola." Choose the correct truth value.

Concept
With constant gravitational acceleration and no air resistance, horizontal motion has constant velocity while vertical motion has constant acceleration.

Derivation sketch
Let initial speed be u and angle θ. Then: x = (u cosθ) t y = (u sinθ) t − (1/2) g t^2 Eliminate t = x/(u cosθ) to get y = x tanθ − (g x^2)/(2 u^2 cos^2θ) which is a quadratic in x — i.e., a parabola.

Final Answer
True