Why does a feather fall slower than a tennis ball?

Air tends to make stuff fall slower, especially light objects, which is why the feather hits the ground last. Since tennis balls and basketballs are quite heavy, at least compared to feathers, we don't easily notice the effect of air resistance on these (although it's still there).

Why does a feather fall more slowly than a ball?

What makes the feather fall slower is the opposing force of air resistance. There is more friction between the feather and the air than there is with the bowling ball. This makes it fall to the ground MUCH slower than a bowling ball.

Why does a feather fall slow rather than fast?

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.

What force causes a feather to fall slower than a pebble?

Well, it's because the air offers much greater resistance to the falling motion of the feather than it does to the brick. The air is actually an upward force of friction, acting against gravity and slowing down the rate at which the feather falls.

Why do heavier objects fall faster?

Given two objects of the same size but of different materials, the heavier (denser) object will fall faster because the drag and buoyancy forces will be the same for both, but the gravitational force will be greater for the heavier object.

Misconceptions About Falling Objects

Does a feather fall at the same speed?

The video takes Galileo's famous experiment to a new level, where both heavy and light objects are dropped at the same time to see which will hit the ground faster. Spoiler: the answer is that they will all fall at the exact same rate. Though some objects, like feathers, seem to fall slower because of air resistance.

Does weight affect speed of falling?

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.

How does Newton's second law apply to falling?

The motion of a free falling object can be described by Newton's second law of motion, force (F) = mass (m) times acceleration (a). We can do a little algebra and solve for the acceleration of the object in terms of the net external force and the mass of the object ( a = F / m).

What has to happen for a feather and a ball to fall at the same rate?

What has to happen for a feather and a ball to fall at the same rate? You have to take away the air resistance.

What forces are acting on a feather as it falls?

In the absence of air resistance, both the elephant and the feather are in a state of free-fall. That is to say, the only force acting upon the two objects is the force of gravity. This force of gravity is what causes both the elephant and the feather to accelerate downwards.

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.

Which will hit the ground first feather or ball?

So, back to the bowling ball and the feather: The reason the bowling ball reaches the ground first is because air resistance has a bigger impact on the feather as it falls. That air resistance slows the feather down while not having much of an impact at all on the bowling ball.

What causes heavier and lighter objects to fall at different speed?

Because the downward force on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by g, heavier objects have a greater downward force. Heavier objects, however, also have more inertia, which means they resist moving more than lighter objects do, and so heaver objects need more force to get them going at the same rate.

What slows down a falling object?

Drag opposes the direction that the object is moving and slows it down. Now unfold the lighter piece and drop both at the same time from a high spot, such as a desk or ladder. They should land at about the same time. So, regardless of weight, the more resistance/friction an object has, the slower the fall.

Why do different objects fall at the same speed?

Because Earth gives everything the exact same acceleration, objects with different masses will still hit the ground at the same time if they are dropped from the same height.

What is the role of air resistance on a falling object?

With air resistance, acceleration throughout a fall gets less than gravity (g) because air resistance affects the movement of the falling object by slowing it down. How much it slows the object down depends on the surface area of the object and its speed.

Why does mass not affect the speed of a falling object?

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. The horizontal force applied does not affect the downward motion of the bullets -- only gravity and friction (air resistance), which is the same for both bullets.

Can we make a ball and a feather fall at the same time on the same height given that they have different weight How?

Answer. If no air resistance is present, the rate of descent depends only on how far the object has fallen, no matter how heavy the object is. This means that two objects will reach the ground at the same time if they are dropped simultaneously from the same height.

What is Newton's 2nd Law explanation?

Newton's second law is a quantitative description of the changes that a force can produce on the motion of a body. It states that the time rate of change of the momentum of a body is equal in both magnitude and direction to the force imposed on it.

Does everything fall at the same speed?

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.

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.

How does the force of gravity affect falling objects?

When objects fall to the ground, gravity causes them to accelerate. Acceleration is a change in velocity, and velocity, in turn, is a measure of the speed and direction of motion. Gravity causes an object to fall toward the ground at a faster and faster velocity the longer the object falls.

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.

Why did the hammer and feather fall at the same time?

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. This is exactly what Galileo had concluded hundreds of years before: all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass.