1. Free Fall Acceleration
Unit 2.1

2. Falling Objects
On August 2, 1971, a demonstration was conducted on the moon by astronaut David Scott. He released a hammer and a feather both fell straight down and landed on a lunar surface at exactly the same moment.

4. Falling Objects
An object thrown or dropped in the presence of Earth’s gravity experiences a constant acceleration directed towards the center of the Earth. This acceleration is called free fall acceleration or the acceleration due to gravity.

5. Falling Objects
Free fall acceleration is the same for all objects regardless of mass. This occurs in the absence of air resistance.

6. Falling Objects
The amount of time that passed between the first and second images is equal to the amount of time that passed between the fourth and fifth images. The picture, however, shows that the displacement in each time interval did not remain constant. Therefore the velocity was not constant. The tennis ball and the marble were accelerating.

7. Falling Objects

8. Falling Objects
The value for free fall acceleration used is a = -g = m/s2 We will consider the direction of the free fall acceleration is considered to be negative because the object falls towards the Earth.

9. Falling Objects
Go to following website for animation: a/kinema/acceln.cfm

10. Free Fall
A free falling object is an object that is falling under the sole influence of gravity. Any object that is being acted upon only by the force of gravity is said to be in a state of free fall.

11. Free Fall
There are 2 important motion characteristics that are true of free-falling objects:
Free-falling objects do not encounter air resistance.
All free-falling objects (on Earth) accelerate downwards at 9.81 m/s2

12. Free Fall
Because free-falling objects are accelerating downwards at a rate of m/s2, a dot diagram of its motion would depict an acceleration.

13. Free Fall
The dot diagram on the right slide depicts the acceleration of a free-falling object. The position of the object at regular time intervals - say, every 0.1 second - is shown.

14. Free Fall
The fact that the distance that the object travels every interval of time is increasing is a sure sign that the ball is speeding up as it falls downward. Recall from that if an object travels downward and speeds up, then its acceleration is negative.

15. Gravitational Acceleration
A free-falling object has an acceleration of 9.81 m/s2, downward (on Earth). This numerical value for the acceleration of a free-falling object is known as the acceleration of gravity - the acceleration for any object moving under the sole influence of gravity. It is denoted as the symbol g.

16. Gravitational Acceleration
The value of the acceleration of gravity is different in different gravitational environments. Even on the surface of the Earth, there are local variations in the value of the acceleration of gravity. These variations are due to latitude, altitude and the local geological structure of the region.

17. Homework Assignment
Go to the following website, enter 5 different locations, and record the gravitational acceleration for each place.
5/Acceleration-of-Gravity

18. Gravitational Acceleration
Recall that acceleration is the rate at which an object changes its velocity. It is the ratio of velocity change to time between any two points in an object's path.

19. Gravitational Acceleration
To accelerate at 9.81 m/s2 means to change the velocity by 9.81 m/s each second.

20. Gravitational Acceleration
If the velocity and time for a free-falling object being dropped from a position of rest were tabulated, then one would note the following pattern.

21. Gravitational Acceleration
Time (s)
Velocity (m/s) 1
- 9.81 2 3 4 5
Observe that the velocity-time data above reveal that the object's velocity is changing by 9.81 m/s each consecutive second resulting in an acceleration of approximately 9.81 m/s2.

22. Free Fall Graphs
There are a variety of means of describing the motion of objects:
position vs. time 
velocity vs. time graphs
The motion of a free-falling motion will be represented using these 2 graphs.

23. Free Fall Graphs
A position versus time graph for a free- falling object is shown below.

24. Free Fall Graphs
Observe that the line on the graph curves. A curved line on a position versus time graph signifies an accelerated motion. Since a free-falling object is undergoing an acceleration, it would be expected that its position-time graph would be curved.

25. Free Fall Graphs
A further look at the position-time graph reveals that the object starts with a small velocity and finishes with a large velocity. The small initial slope indicates a small vi and the large final slope indicates a large vf. Finally, the negative slope of the line indicates a negative (i.e., downward) velocity.

26. Free Fall Graphs
A velocity versus time graph for a free- falling object is shown below.

27. Free Fall Graphs
Observe that the line on the velocity vs. time graph is a straight, diagonal line. A diagonal line on a velocity vs. time graph signifies an accelerated motion.

28. Free Fall Graphs
A further look at the velocity-time graph reveals that the object starts with a zero velocity (as read from the graph) and finishes with a large, negative velocity; that is, the object is moving in the negative direction and speeding up.

29. Free Fall Graphs
An object that is moving in the negative direction and speeding up is said to have a negative acceleration. Since the slope of any velocity versus time graph is the acceleration of the object, the constant, negative slope indicates a constant, negative acceleration.

30. Free Fall Graphs
This analysis of the slope on the graph is consistent with the motion of a free-falling object - an object moving with a constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s2 in the downward direction.