Do objects of different mass fall at the same rate?

As such, all objects free fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. Because the 9.8 N/kg gravitational field at Earth's surface causes a 9.8 m/s/s acceleration of any object placed there, we often call this ratio the acceleration of gravity.
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Do objects of the same mass fall at the same speed?

Mass does not affect the speed of falling objects, assuming there is only gravity acting on it. Both bullets will strike the ground at the same time.
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Do heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects?

No, heavier objects fall as fast (or slow) as lighter objects, if we ignore the air friction. The air friction can make a difference, but in a rather complicated way. The gravitational acceleration for all objects is the same. 3) how dense the object is.
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Why do things with different mass fall at the same acceleration?

Increasing force tends to increase acceleration while increasing mass tends to decrease acceleration. Thus, the greater force on more massive objects is offset by the inverse influence of greater mass. Subsequently, all objects free fall at the same rate of acceleration, regardless of their mass.
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Does a feather and a rock fall at the same speed?

Galileo discovered that objects that are more dense, or have more mass, fall at a faster rate than less dense objects, due to this air resistance. A feather and brick dropped together. Air resistance causes the feather to fall more slowly.
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Misconceptions About Falling Objects



Why do two balls of different masses hit the ground at the same time?

Gravity is the force that causes things to fall to earth. When you drop a ball (or anything) it falls down. Gravity causes everything to fall at the same speed. This is why balls that weigh different amounts hit the ground at the same time.
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Do objects of higher mass fall faster?

Acceleration of Falling Objects

Heavier things have a greater gravitational force AND heavier things have a lower acceleration. It turns out that these two effects exactly cancel to make falling objects have the same acceleration regardless of mass.
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Does weight Affect fall rate?

The simplest answer is: no, an object's weight usually will not change its falling speed. For example, you can test this by dropping a bowling ball and a basketball from the same height at the same time--they should fall at the same speed and land at the same time.
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Why does a feather fall slower than a brick?

Galileo discovered that objects that are more dense, or have more mass, fall at a faster rate than less dense objects, due to this air resistance. A feather and brick dropped together. Air resistance causes the feather to fall more slowly.
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Does mass affect speed?

Mass doesn't affect speed directly. It determines how quickly an object can change speed (accelerate) under the action of a given force. Lighter objects need less time to change speed by a given amount under a given force.
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Why do some objects fall faster than others near the surface of the earth if all mass is attracted equally by the force of gravity?

Why do some objects fall faster than others near the surface of the earth if all mass is attracted equally by the force of gravity? Some objects fall faster because of air resistance, which acts in the direction of the motion of the object and exerts more force on objects with less surface area.
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Who said all objects fall at the same rate?

Galileo took an interest in rates of fall when he was about 26 years old and a math teacher at the University of Pisa. It seemed to him that -- with no air resistance -- a body should fall at a speed proportional to its density. He decided to test this modified Aristotelian view by making an experiment.
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Why does a coin fall faster than paper?

Answer is (3) air resistance is less.

We know that gravitational acceleration is same for all falling bodies. But coin which is heavier body experiences less air resistance as compared to paper. Therefore coins falls faster.
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What falls faster an elephant or a mouse?

No, both papers still fell at the same rate. All objects accelerate toward Earth at 9.8 m/s/s due to the force of gravity. This force is downward toward the earth.
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Why does a book fall faster than paper?

The falling book protects the sheet from that air resistance, so the sheet can fall unimpeded. All objects that move downward through stationary air experience upward air resistance forces, but heavy compact objects (e.g., books) are less affected by those forces than light, fluffy ones (e.g., sheets of paper).
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What factors affect the rate of fall of an object?

Accordingly, falling is affected by a variety of factors, and the controllable part is the object's surface area, angle, and weight. The combination of these controls and physics rules has made parachuting and freefalling possible.
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When we say that light objects and heavy objects fall at the same rate what assumption's are we making?

A: There is an equal and opposite force on each of the two objects: they will both move. Now since the acceleration of each object is inversely proportional to the mass, the lighter object will move a bit faster.
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Do heavier objects go downhill faster?

Many people expect that a heavier wheel will naturally roll downhill faster than a lighter one. But when an object rolls downhill, its speed depends not on the weight of the wheel, but on where the weight is located. When weight is located far from the center of the wheel, the wheel is harder to get rolling.
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Why does a feather fall at the same rate?

This air causes friction with objects as they fall through it, called air resistance, which can slow them down as they fall. Air resistance affects different shapes differently. Because the Apollo crew were essentially in a vacuum, there was no air resistance and the feather fell at the same rate as the hammer.
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Why dont heavy objects fall faster than light objects?

It is constant and does not depend upon the mass of an object. In the free fall of objects, the acceleration in velocity due to gravity is independent of the mass of those objects hence a heavy object does not fall faster than a light object. Hence, heavy objects do not fall faster than light objects.
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Will a feather and a brick fall at the same speed?

A brick would just immediately fall to the Earth, and it would do it quite quickly. It would accelerate quite quickly. While a feather would kind of float around. If you had a feather on Earth, it would just float around.
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Does a feather and bowling ball fall at the same speed?

You can recreate your own version of Galileo's experiment by tying a feather to a bowling ball and dropping them both at the same time. The feather-bowling ball duo doesn't fall at a slower rate because the feather is lighter than just the bowling ball alone — instead, they both fall at exactly the same rate.
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Do heavier objects hit the ground first?

The force due to gravitation and air resistance. In the absence of air resistance, both heavy and the lighter object will hit the ground at the same time. If the air resistance is present, the air resistance will slow down the lighter object. Therefore the heavier object will hit the ground first.
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Why does a balloon fall slowly?

When a balloon falls, it is pulled downwards by gravity at the same rate as anything else (like a book or a rock) would be. But it is slowed down by air resistance. The less something weighs, the more air resistance will do to slow it down - this is why it affects a balloon much more than a rock.
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