ACCELERATION OF GRAVITY

Overview
In this activity, you will examine the acceleration of gravity near
the Earth. This will include the effects of drag in determining
terminal velocity. The assignment is a lab investigation based on a
computer simulation.
Free-Fall
Objects fall down. Unless they are
suspended or supported by some other
force, the pull of gravity will accelerate
them towards the Earth's surface. The
acceleration of gravity is often just
called g. You may hear people say,
That pilot pulled over 6 g's pulling her
F16 fighter jet out of that dive! The
pilot is not in free-fall, but is actually
experiencing an acceleration 6 times
greater than the skydiver seen to the
right who is just falling.
Aristotle believed that objects fall
because they are made of dirt and long
to return to the dirt on the ground. We
now know that the massive earth is
responsible for the fact that objects
near to the Earth experience the pull of
gravity. The acceleration of gravity
is:

What clues does this

image contain that
this skydiver is
actually free-falling?

An object in free-fall has no propulsion system. It is undergoing its

motion due to the force of gravity. For example, if you drop a ball
in mid-air, it falls to the ground gaining 9.8 m/s of speed each
second. If we throw the ball up its motion would have the
following characteristics:
Acceleration up at some arbitrary value due to the force of the
throwing hand. This is not free-fall.
Once it leaves the hand, it will rise, decreasing in velocity by 9.8
m/s as it goes higher; it slows down.
At maximum height the instantaneous vertical velocity is zero,
vinstaneous = 0, but it is still accelerating or changing its velocity.
On the way back down, it again changes its velocity by - 9.8 m/s
each second but now this negative velocity change causes the
downward velocity to increase in magnitude; it speeds up.
The ball eventually is caught or impacts the ground and
experiences an arbitrary upward acceleration ending the free-fall
of the ball.
The rate of acceleration due to gravity near the Earth's surface is
9.8 m/s2 [down] and varies only slightly from this anywhere on
the planet. Neglecting friction, this rate of acceleration is constant
throughout all parts in a free-fall trip, whether on the upward
path, at maximum height, or on the way back down. The skydiver
shown above will eventually encounter air resistance sufficient to
counter the pull of gravity but most problems in this unit will
ignore friction or drag.
Falling objects on the moon will encounter no drag due to the lack
of atmosphere but the acceleration on the moon is 1/6 of Earth's
gravity since the moon is so much smaller than our planet.
Example

This beach athlete has just kicked the ball straight up!
A soccer ball is kicked vertically at 11.3 m/s [up] from a person's
foot that is 1.6 m above the ground.
With what speed does the ball hit the sandy beach?
How long after the athlete kicks the first soccer ball should
someone drop a second ball from the same height (1.6 m) so that
both balls hit the ground at the same time?
Given: We will consider up to be positive and down to be
negative. Notice that since the equations from the last activity
look at displacement not distance we only need to look at the
final displacement of the ball from where it is kicked to the ground
to find the velocity.

Required:

Analysis: We know both balls are in free-fall immediately after

being kicked or dropped so the equations of uniform acceleration
apply.
Solution:

Paraphrase: The final velocity of the kicked ball immediately

before hitting the sandy ground is 13 m/s [down] and the second
ball can be dropped 0.43 s after the first ball is kicked.
Check Your Understanding

The safety rope of the climber can limit free-fall if the climber
loses his grip.

A rock climber needs to throw a safety harness to his partner who

is on a ledge 1.4 m below. If the end is thrown downward with a
velocity of 8.7 m/s and allowed to free-fall to the partner, with
what velocity does the harness reach the stranded climber? How
long does it take for the harness to complete the fall?

A person reaching the top of a mountain cliff celebrates by

throwing an apple core up at 9.8 m/s. State what the
instantaneous speed of the apple core is at the following times in
general terms of the initial velocity, 9.8 m/s.
e.g., At 0 s, vinstaneous = 9.8 m/s; this is the initial velocity
0s
0.5 s
1.0 s
1.5 s
2.0 s
2.5 s
Complete the practice worksheet and upload to your
ePortfolio Acceleration due to gravity worksheet
Enrichment
Students often confuse the concept of acceleration and velocity.
Free-fall means that the change in velocity is uniform which
clearly indicates that the velocity cannot be constant. The
acceleration is constant. Galileo was able to see this effect by
"diluting" gravity using long smooth ramps. This allowed him to
measure the speed of a ball rolling down a ramp and come to the
conclusion that all objects increase speed up the ramp at the

same rate. He adjusted the angle of the ramp and then

extrapolated to the steepest ramp of them all a vertical cliff. At
this angle the "ramp" would accelerate an object free to fall at 9.8
m/s each and every second.
Students who understand this can easily answer the following
question without any calculation:
A ball is launched vertically at 1000 km/h, rises and then falls
back to the Earth. Ignoring wind resistance, what is the difference
between the velocity at 42.4 s and 43.4 s? (Hint: What does
acceleration mean?)
Resources
Learn more and try a quiz about the Elephant and Feather at the
Physics Classroom.
Find more help on the Acceleration of Gravity.