Projectile Drag

Projectile motion with quadratic air drag, integrated by RK4. Compares to the no-drag analytic curve (dashed grey).

Inputs

• Initial speed v, angle θ, launch height h₀.
• Mass m, drag coefficient C_d, frontal area A, air density ρ.
• Gravity g.

Notes

Drag force F = ½ ρ C_d A |v| v. For a smooth sphere C_d ≈ 0.47, a baseball ≈ 0.3, a streamlined missile < 0.05.