1.0 Introduction Earths gravity will pulls all the objects to the earths surface.

When the gravity force is the only force that acting on the object, the object will undergo free fall. 2.0 Theory

All masses have gravitational attraction toword another. A body on earth has a value of gravitational attraction that keeps the body on the ground. When this body is lifted, it carries an energy known as the potential energy P, which is calculated, based on the mass of the body m, gravitational acceleration g and height h as shown below:

When the body is release, gravitational force acts in forcing the body to fall to the ground and potential energy is convert into kinetic energy V, whichis calculated based on the mass of the body m and the value of speed of its fall v as shown below: Thus, gravitational attractions plays an important role in determining the response of a body when experiencing free fall. When a body fall to the ground from a certain height h, it falls at gravitational acceleration. The gravitational acceleration of earth is measured based on gravitational constant, G, masses of bodies m1, m2 and the distance between bodies as shown below: Since the mass of the earth is far larger than any body on earth, the value of mass pf body on earth is neglected. By taking the value of G = 6.6742 x , mass of earth kg and the radius of earth r (6.378 x m), a standard value for gravitational acceleration is derived as 9.81 . The forked light barrier measure the free fall phenomena by measuring the time t when the body, a steel ball in this case, enters the light barrier and exits the light barrier. Thus, by knowing the diameter of the steel ball d, instantaneous velocity v is calculated using the equation below:

3.0 Procedure

1. Setup the free fall apparatus as shown in the Figure 1. 2. For the distance of fall of 90 cm, shift the forked light barrier downwards by 90 cm. 3. Unscrew the knurled screw of the holding magnet, put the cord through the hole and suspend a weight from it. 4. Adjust the arrangement so that the cord interrupts the light barrier. 5. Remove the cord and screw the knurled screw in again. 6. Placed the steal ball to the magnet, and screw the knurled screw back until the steel ball just hanging underneath the magnet. 7. Suspend the steel ball, and start the measurement with the key start/stop. 8. As soon as the ball has fallen down (shown in Figure 2), press the key start/stop once more. 9. Read the time of fall t as displayed in the digital counter. 10. Press the key two times, record the obscuration time in ms. 11. Repeat the step 2 until 10 for differences as stated in the given table.