The figure shows a baton thrown in the air, as a simple projectile. The red light is attached to the baton's center, and the other lights are fixed at the baton's ends. Note that the center of mass traces out a perfect parabola, just as predicted by Newton's laws for a mass with a uniform acceleration. Points not located at the center do not follow such simple paths; Newton's laws are more complicated for those points.
Photo from "Physics, Classical and Modern", 2nd ed., by Keller, Gettys, Skove; McGraw-Hill Pub.