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Secondaire 5 • 9m

How do you know for sure when gravity will be positive? Of course when we are looking at displacement we use the absolute value in the end of our formula. Apart from that when is gravity positive? This question is mostly for projectiles.

Physique
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  • Explication d'Alloprof

    Explication d'Alloprof

    Cette explication a été donnée par un membre de l'équipe d'Alloprof.

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    Équipe Alloprof • 9m

    Hi!


    Thanks for your question :)

    We use the gravitational force in vector form. This means that this force has a magnitude, but also an orientation (i.e. a direction and a sense). The sens (positive or negative) depends on your reference system (the x and y axes)

    However, in most cases when analyzing the motion of projectiles, the reference system is as follows:

    image.png


    The gravitational force applied to an object in this reference system will be oriented downwards (towards the center of the Earth), so it will be negative.


    Hope that helps! If there's anything else, you know how to reach us! :)

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