IB DP Physics lesson pack on projectile motion for Topic A.1 Kinematics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: horizontal and vertical components, taught through questions the class works in the room. Editable worksheet, 48-slide lesson deck, teacher key, worked solutions and a questions-only assessment, supplied as self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDF.
What students learn
- Under gravity alone, with fluid resistance neglected, a projectile has zero horizontal acceleration and a constant acceleration g downward: the free fall met before.
- Two independent motions on one clock: from a strobe record of a dropped ball and a ball launched horizontally, the class finds a constant horizontal velocity, the same fall for both, and an acceleration of 9.8 m s⁻² downward.
- Resolving a launch velocity: components drawn on a scaled grid and read off, then calculated as u cos(theta) and u sin(theta).
- Along one flight the velocity’s horizontal component never changes, and at the top only its vertical component is zero: the acceleration is still g.
IB skills (Tool 3: Mathematics):
- Resolve vectors into two perpendicular components (taught).
- Select and manipulate equations (practised).
- Draw components on a scaled grid and read them off (practised).
What’s included:
- Student Worksheet - 15 pages
- Teacher Key - 23 pages
- Worked Solutions - 15 pages
- Assessment - 12 pages
- Lesson deck - 48 slides
The lesson opens on three questions the class answers before anything is taught, and a two-coin demonstration. Four questions, 36 marks, are worked in the room and two of five explained multiple-choice questions are the exit ticket; the rest go home, with a ball kicked at 72 km h⁻¹ and a challenge worked backwards from the top of the path.
Quantitative ranges, times of flight and full trajectories are left to the follow-on pack, and the parabola’s equation is not required. Worksheet and deck open in any modern browser with nothing to install, and the worksheet is fully editable. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19) as a lesson, homework or revision.
Related resources:
- Projectile Motion II: Calculations and Trajectories, the follow-on pack
- SUVAT Equations II: Vertical Motion and Gravity, the free fall it rests on
- Fluid Resistance, what changes once the air is put back
- Measuring the Acceleration of Free Fall, the topic practical (free)
Updated 18 Oct 2026: please reprint.
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