Consider a shell that has a muzzle velocity of 45 ms⁻¹ fired from the tail gun of an airplane moving horizontally with a velocity of 215 ms⁻¹. The tail gun can be directed at any angle with the vertical in the plane of motion of the airplane. The shell is fired when the plane is above point A on ground; and the plane is above point B on ground when the shell hits the ground. (Assume for simplicity that the Earth is flat)
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Question

Consider a shell that has a muzzle velocity of 45 ms⁻¹ fired from the tail gun of an airplane moving horizontally with a velocity of 215 ms⁻¹. The tail gun can be directed at any angle with the vertical in the plane of motion of the airplane. The shell is fired when the plane is above point A on ground; and the plane is above point B on ground when the shell hits the ground. (Assume for simplicity that the Earth is flat)

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G1 Physics · Accepted Answer

In the ground frame, the shell has the airplane velocity plus its muzzle velocity relative to the airplane. For a tail gun, the horizontal component of the muzzle velocity can reduce the shell's ground speed from the airplane value, and it can also be zero relative to the plane when fired vertically. Hence the shell may land at point B. Under the source's tail-gun interpretation, the keyed answer is option B.