If I toss a ball horizontally at the exact same instant that I drop another one from my other hand, which one reaches the ground first? For this experiment, you need: Please login or register to read the rest of this content.
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It’s not the weight but the SHAPE that determines how things fall through our atmosphere. Try a golf ball and a ping pong ball – they are about the same shape but different weight. Now try a wadded up piece of paper and a straight sheet of paper – these are the same weight but different size. What did you find?
They hit the surface at the same time or nearly hit the ground at the same time, even heavier objects kept falling at the exact same time. What explains this?
The advanced Lab is now part of the HS Physics section that you can access through here: https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/grade-levels/high-school/advanced-physics/ The lab you are referring to is covered in the first section and includes step by step video instructions.
What are we supposed to put in the worksheet chart? There are no clear instructions.
That sounds fun!
I would try something heavier than a nerf ball, since they’re so light and can be affected easily by air currents. I use a golf ball when doing this, but note that it’s pretty hard to toss one and let go of the other at exact same time, so it will take practice! I wonder if you can design an experiment that will do that… (hint hint!)
Hi Aurora, we tested the forever falling experiment using a foam bullet fired from a NERF gun and the same bullet dropped from an equal height straight down. The bullet dropped from our hand landed first every time. Why??
That’s because the Earth is round, and the center of gravity is at the center of the Earth, inside the ball (Earth) at the core. This means that if you’re at the south pole, it still feels right-side up because gravity is pointing down toward the center of the Earth, same as it does for the North pole and on the equator. If the direction of the gravitational field was indicated by an arrow that pointed from north to south pole, then people on the south pole would feel upside-down. But instead, that arrow points from the surface of the planet to the core at the center. Does that help?
Hi, I know that gravity keeps me from falling off Earth. I would like to know why I don’t feel like I’m sideways in North America where I live, and penguins are not upside down in Antartica. Thank you.
Good question! The answer is sadly, no – you need to be about the size of a planet to have any effect of “pulling things toward you” – at least, enough for it to be noticeable.
Hi Aurora! We were doing the gravity unit, and I was wondering, we have our own gravitational fields, but they are so small compared to the earth’s that it doesn’t do anything. But what if we were way out in space? Would we be able to pull things towards us?
Thanks,
Ally W.
Nice work varying the experiment!
And great question! Did you watch the Feather and the Hammer video yet? It answers that exact question. It’s the second video on the page (link above).
Dear Aurora,
We tried the experiment with different sized coins and some odd-shaped objects (such as dog toys). We had a hard time doing it with the paint stick diagonally, so we just put the objects at the edge of the table and shoved them off using the paint stick, and got the same results that way. My son, Asher, had a question: What if one object was in an airless space when it was dropped?
Thanks!
Benita
Great question! Think of the path they travel through as having two different components: the vertical drop and the horizontal distance.
The vertical drop: The coin and ruler are both in a sea of air (the atmosphere) and since they are not the same shape, they are going to have to push aside different amounts of air as they fall to the ground (air resistance). If we take away this air (like visiting the moon), you’ll be able to see them both hit the ground at the same time.There’s a video in this section that shows a hammer and a feather hitting the ground at the same time – make sure you watch it… it’s super-cool.
The horizontal distance: Both objects are still affected by air resistance. The larger object will experience more drag and not travel as far as a streamlined object. How far each goes also depends on the vertical drop: the less air resistance, the more time it has aloft, and the further it will go.
The direct response to your question is that gravity accelerates all things equally: things fall at the rate of 9.81 m/sec2 or 32.2 ft/s2
Does that help?
hi,
This experiment is mind boggling to us.We have attempted to do the ruler and coin experiment. We filmed it on a HD camera and we have found that the coin which is hit with the ruler seems to takes longer to get to the ground. Are you saying that the amount of force behind an object being thrown does not influence how quickly it drops?
Ben and Caleb
That is cool! I was a little skeptical at first but I saw the results! Thanks Aurora, you have made science fun again.
It has to do with gravity. Stuff falls at the same rate no matter what it weighs, and when you do the math to figure it out, it comes out to be 16 feet the first second. You can read more about gravity here and do a couple of gravity experiments here especially the super-cool gravity experiment that the astronauts did on the moon!
You said that everything falls sixteen feet within the first second. Why always sixteen feet?
Krishnaya, age 8
Mythbusters did an episode about the bullet experiment. They shot one bullet from a gun while simultaneously dropping another one to test whether they would hit the ground at the same time or not. I found the video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9wQVIEdKh8
Again, thank you Aurora, my children are now enjoying Unit 1 lesson 2 as much as they enjoyed lesson 1.. if not a bit more 🙂 now that we are used to the format.