Past exam of the physics 1 paper of the University of Oxford / 2017 / 7 / Solution

Take $x$ horizontal, $y$ upward and $g>0$. Resolve Newton's second law into components for projectile motion with linear drag:For $\alpha >0$, let ${\tau }_d=m/\alpha$. An integrating factor $e^{t/{\tau }_d}$ givesThe relaxation time is ${\tau }_d$, and the terminal velocity is $(0,-g{\tau }_d)$. For fixed finite $t$, expanding the exponential function as $\alpha \to 0$ gives the continuous limit $v_x=v_0\cos \theta$ and $v_y=v_0\sin \theta -gt$; the two terms proportional to ${\tau }_d$ cancel before taking the limit.