Free Fall

• FREE FALL: It is any motion of a body where its weight is the only force acting on it. Any object that is being acted upon ONLY by the force of gravity is said to be in a state of free fall.
• THE CONCEPT OF FREE FALL:

  The concept that two objects would fall at the same rate regardless of their mass was first hypothesized by Galileo Galilei

  "Incorrect! Objects do, indeed, ACCELERATE as they fall"
• THE CONCEPT OF FREE FALL:

  In his experiment, he observed that in the absence of air resistance, heavy and light objects will fall at the same time.
• There are two important motion characteristics that are true for free-falling objects:

  Free-falling objects do not encounter air resistance
• There are two important motion characteristics that are true for free-falling objects:

  All free-falling body on Earth accelerate downward at a rate of 9.81 m/s²
• KEY POINTS IN FREE FALL:

  • The object slows down as it ascend
  • But speeds up as it descend
  • Acceleration is constant, g = -9.81 m/s²
  • At the highest point, the value of velocity is zero.