Why does Newton's second law make a projectile's acceleration constant and mass-independent, and how does that pin down its peak?
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Newton's Second Law equated component by component
From write and , giving and , and note the mass independence and the sign convention.
Integrating the accelerations over time
Evaluate the integrals from to to obtain , , and .
The condition at the top
Solve for , and tie it to the zero slope of the -versus- graph.
Worked stone throw at from m
Substitute into to get , then evaluate with for s and m.