External ballistics

External ballistics is the science of how things fly through the air. When you throw or shoot something, like a ball, a frisbee, or a bullet, it moves through the air in a certain way.

There are three important things that affect how something moves through the air: gravity, air resistance, and the initial force that you put on it.

Gravity is the force that pulls everything towards the ground. When you throw something, gravity immediately starts pulling it down towards the earth. The faster you throw it, the longer it takes for gravity to pull it down.

Air resistance is like the air pushing back against the thing you are throwing. The more air resistance there is, the slower something will move through the air.

The initial force is how hard you throw or shoot something. When you throw a ball, the initial force is the push that you give it with your arm. When you shoot a bullet, the initial force is the explosion inside the gun that propels the bullet out of the barrel.

All three of these things combine to create the path that something takes through the air. For example, if you throw a ball, it will start out moving quickly and slowly lose speed as air resistance and gravity pull it down towards the ground.

People who study external ballistics use math and science to figure out how things will move through the air. This is important if you want to accurately hit a target with a bullet, throw a football to land in a certain spot, or even launch a rocket into space.