• Question: Why does that weight of objects affect how quickly it falls?

    Asked by jamjarjarvis TGS to Connor, Jillian, Lidunka, Sarah, Steven on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Steven Thomson

      Steven Thomson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Actually, the mass of an object doesn’t affect how quickly it falls! This slightly counter-intuitive idea was proposed by Galileo sometime in the 1500s, and has since been proven but history is unclear on who was the first to do the experiment.

      All things falls with an acceleration of 9.8 metres per second per second (the units of acceleration). Eventually, depending on how big the objects are, the opposing force from air friction stops them from accelerating any more and the object reaches what’s called terminal velocity. This depends on the shape, size and mass of the object and how much friction it causes against the air when it falls.

    • Photo: Lidunka Vocadlo

      Lidunka Vocadlo answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      If you take, say, a heavy brick and a pencil and drop them from a height (say standing on a desk) they will land at the same time! And that is because the acceleration due to gravity is the same. They both started with a velocity of zero, they both accelerated at the same rate. They will both land at the same time.

Comments