Design Engineer Question:

The major difference is that a projectile has no motor or a rocket on it, due to which the momentum is given to it as it is launched. A pen thrown across a room is a classic example of a projectile motion. On the other hand, a rocket or missile has a motor on it which helps in accelerating while moving. This helps in resisting other forces such as gravity. A projectile does not have any specific shape, it is a point mass, whereas rocket has a particular shape having its center of gravity situated at a particular point on its body. Thus rocket motion comes under kinetics and projectile comes under kinematics.