FREE FALL
Objective: Study and understand the motion of a freely falling object and measure the acceleration
of gravity.
Materials: PhET simulation
Cannonball
Timer
Ruler
Theoretical Background:
If an object is tossed either up or down and the effects of air resistance are eliminated, it will be found
that the object accelerates at a certain rate. The acceleration is independent of the objects characteristics,
such as mass, density, or shape it is the same for all objects. The gravitational field of Earth is a uniform
field, near the surface and at heights small compared to the radius of Earth. That is the gravitational
acceleration is constant. This is called the free fall acceleration โgโ. The value of free fall acceleration
near the Earthโs surface is g = -9.8 m/s2, minus sign indicating that the body is accelerating downward.
If an object is dropped from a certain height (h) and falls for a time (t), then its equation of motion can be
written as: โ =โ๐ฃ0๐กโ1/2๐๐ก2
