Free Falling

Tom Petty &

the Heartbreakers
Bet You Can’t Catch a 50 !!
 Determining Your Reaction Time

d = measure a = 9.8 m/s/s vi = 0 m/s t=?

Galileo’s Expt
Drop a large
cannon ball and a
small musket ball
at the same time
from the top of
the Leaning
Tower of Pisa.
Which one will hit
the ground first?
 Demo -
Paper vs Book Fall
Which will hit the ground first if we
drop both a book and a piece of
paper at the same time?
OK – What could we do so they hit
the ground at the same time?
The Guinea & Feather
Tube Demonstration

If we place a feather and an

English coin in a tube and remove
all the air, which will fall faster?
In a
Vacuum
Free Falling

Q – Is this a vector? And if

the answer is yes, in what
direction is this acceleration?
Free Falling

A – Yes, towards the center of

the earth and
down is negative
 Free Falling
Problem 1 – A banana is dropped from
rest from the top of OHS. Assume that
g = 10 m/s/s.
DEB -Make a table for v vs t
DEB - Draw the v vs t graph for the first
4 seconds of free fall.
V
in
m/s

t in s
 Free Falling
Time in s Velocity in m/s
0 0
1 9.8
2 19.6
3 29.4
4 39.2

DEB - Now determine how far the banana has

fallen at the end of each second. Use d = ½ a t2
 Free Falling
Time in s Velocity in m/s Displacement in m

0 0 0
1 9.8 4.9
2 19.6 19.6
3 29.4 44.2
4 39.2 78.4
DEB – Draw the d vs t graph for free fall.
d
in
m

t in s
 Free Falling
Time in Velocity Displacement Acceleration
s in m/s in m In m/s/s
0 0 0 9.8
1 9.8 4.9 9.8
2 19.6 19.6 9.8
3 29.4 44.2 9.8
4 39.2 78.4 9.8
DEB - Draw the a vs t graph for free fall.
a in 9.8
m/s/s

t in s
 Free Fall
How far will a rock fall in the
first second of free fall?

(Careful, this is a trick question that

everyone gets wrong on the first try.)
 Free Fall
Hints

Hint – find the area under the v vs t graph

from 0 to 1 s

Hint – use d = ½ a t2
Free Fall on the Moon
The
acceleration
due to gravity
on the moon is
much less than
it is on the
Earth.
g = 1.6 m/s/s
Free Fall on the Moon
Picture of Apollo 11 astronaut on the
moon. Name the other guy for EC.
____________

Ed Aldrin
Free Fall on the Moon
DEB – Draw the a vs t graph,
the v vs t graph and the d vs t graph
for an object dropped from rest on
the moon.
 9.8
d v a

1.6

t t t
 time Velocity
Problem – A ball is thrown in s in m/s
straight up with an initial 0 +30
velocity of 30 m/s. It
returns to the ground with a 1 ?
final velocity of 30 m/s. If up
is Pos and down is NEG 2 ?
then
DEB – Fill in the v vs t table 3 ?
DEB - Draw the v vs t 4 ?
graph.
5 ?

6 ?
 time Velocity
Problem – A ball is thrown in s in m/s
straight up with an initial 0 +30
velocity of 30 m/s. It
returns to the ground with a 1 +20
final velocity of 30 m/s. If up
is Pos and down is NEG 2 +10
then
DEB – Fill in the v vs t table 3 0
DEB - Draw the v vs t 4 -10
graph.
5 -20

6 -30
+30

V ? ?
in t in s
m/s

-30
Factoids regarding Free Fall

DEB – Fill in the blanks.

A) time up always equals-------------.
B) distance up equals---------------.
C) acceleration is always down even if
------------
D) velocity at the highest point is -------------.
E) acceleration at the highest point is------------.
F) velocity on the way down always equals------.
Factoids regarding Free Fall

Notice in free fall that the

A) time up always equals the time down.
B) distance up equals the distance down
C) acceleration is always down even if the object is
going up.
D) velocity at the highest point is 0 m/s
E) acceleration at the highest point is –9.8 m/s/s
F) velocity on the way down always equals the velocity
on the way up
Notice the
acceleration
vector g
remains the
same up
and down.