An object thrown at a certain angle to the ground moves in a curved path and falls back to the ground. the initial and the final points of the path of the object lie on the same horizontal line. what is the work done by the force of gravity on the object?

Question: An object thrown at a certain angle to the ground moves in a curved path and falls back to the ground. the initial and the final points of the path of the object lie on the same horizontal line. what is the work done by the force of gravity on the object?

 I will explain the concept of work done by the force of gravity on a projectile. A projectile is an object thrown at a certain angle to the ground that moves in a curved path and falls back to the ground. The initial and the final points of the path of the object lie on the same horizontal line.

The work done by a force on an object is defined as the product of the force and the displacement of the object in the direction of the force. The force of gravity acts vertically downward on the projectile, while the displacement of the projectile has both horizontal and vertical components. Therefore, we can write:

Work done by gravity = Force of gravity × Vertical displacement

The force of gravity is equal to the mass of the projectile times the acceleration due to gravity, which is a constant value. The vertical displacement is equal to the difference between the initial and final heights of the projectile. Therefore, we can write:

Work done by gravity = Mass × Acceleration due to gravity × (Final height - Initial height)

Since the initial and final heights are equal, we can simplify this expression as:

Work done by gravity = Mass × Acceleration due to gravity × 0

This means that the work done by gravity on a projectile is zer, regardless of the angle or speed of projection. This is because the force and motion of the projectile are in the same direction. The gravitational force only affects the vertical component of the velocity of the projectile, which changes from positive to negative at the highest point of the trajectory. However, the change in vertical kinetic energy is equal to the negative of the change in gravitational potential energy, so the total mechanical energy of the projectile remains constant,