Howitzer and Tunnel

This demonstration illustrates the independence of horizontal and vertical motion, a key concept in projectile motion. A howitzer is set up to fire a small ball horizontally while it moves through a tunnel on a cart. As the cart moves along the track, the ball is fired upward when the cart passes a trigger point. Despite the ball being launched vertically, it continues to move forward with the same velocity as the cart. This shows that the horizontal motion of the cart and the vertical motion of the ball are independent of each other. The ball falls back into the cart after being launched, demonstrating that, in the absence of external horizontal forces, the ball maintains its horizontal velocity.