You are on the street trying to hit a friend in his dorm window with a water balloon. He has a similar idea and is aiming at you with his water balloon. You aim straight at each other and throw at the same instant. Do the water balloons hit each other? Explain why or why not.

When an object is launched under the influence of gravity, it is said to be undergoing projectile motion. The path followed by the object undergoing projectile motion is parabolic.

When an object is launched under the influence of only gravity, the path followed by the object is parabolic. Thus, it follows a parabolic path when the balloon is thrown instead of following a straight-line path.

Both the balloons travel in a parabolic path. They can collide if their paths collide at the same time. It depends on factors such as the initial velocities of the balloons, the height of release, and the distance between both windows.

For example, if the distance between the windows is very large, both balloons will hit the ground before their paths cross. And if the velocity of the launch of one balloon is significantly higher than that of the other, their paths will not cross simultaneously.

Thus, if both the balloons are launched from the same height, with the same velocity, and if the distance between the friends is not that large, the balloons will cross paths and hit.