Does weight Affect speed in free fall?

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.

Does weight matter in a free fall?

The mass of an object does not depend on the location, the weight does. An object that moves because of the action of gravity alone is said to be free falling. So all objects, regardless of size or shape or weight, free fall with the same acceleration.

Do objects fall at the same speed regardless of weight?

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.

How does weight affect speed?

Weight affects speed down the ramp (the pull of gravity), but it’s the mass (and friction) that affects speed after a car leaves the ramp. Heavier cars have more momentum, so they travel further, given the same amount of friction.

How does weight of an object affect the speed of its fall?

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.

Why do objects of different weight fall at the same 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.

How do you calculate the weight of a free falling object?

An object in free fall will still have a weight, governed by the equation W = mg , where W is the object’s weight, m is the object’s mass, and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

Why does weight not affect 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. 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.

What affects speed of an object?

Drag and gravity are two factors that affect the rate an object falls through air. If the gravity (relative to Earth’s gravity) is greater, the rate would change very quickly from slow to fast, but if the gravity is weaker, it would change slower.

Why does heavier object fall faster?

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. Air resistance causes the feather to fall more slowly.