Free Fall Laboratory

Question 1

is an object that is falling under the sole influence of gravity.

Answer 1

free falling object

Question 2

Any object that is being acted upon only by the force of gravity is said to be in a state of

Answer 2

free fall

Question 3

do not encounter air resistance.

Answer 3

free-falling objects

Question 4

All free-falling objects (on Earth) accelerate downwards at a rate of

Answer 4

9.8 m/s^2

Question 5

Because free-falling objects are accelerating downwards at a rate of 9.8 m/s2, a ___ diagram of its motion would depict an acceleration. T

Answer 5

dot

Question 6

equipment used for free fall

Answer 6

SPARKvue
DigitalAdapter
Picket Fence
Photogate Head
Universal table clamp

Question 7

proposed that
there is a natural force that causes heavy objects to fall toward the center of Earth. He called this force
“gravity.”

Answer 7

Aristotle

Question 8

was able to show that gravity
is a universal force that extends beyond Earth. Itis the force that causes the moon to orbitthe Earth and
the Earth to orbit the Sun.

Answer 8

Isaac Newton

Question 9

When an object is in “free fall,”the only force acting on it is the force of

Answer 9

gravity

Question 10

You can measure the motion of the falling ball to find the value of the acceleration
due to gravity.This value is approximately equal to

Answer 10

9.8m/s^2

Question 11

is a rectangular
piece of clear plastic with evenly spaced opaque bands.

Answer 11

picket fence

Question 12

The edges of the opaque bands are what measurement apart

Answer 12

5.0cm apart

Question 13

Compute acceleration due to gravity using the equation

Answer 13

g = v2/2y

Question 14

calculate experimental value of g given

v = 2.51 m/s
position = 0.3m

Answer 14

g = 10.5m/s^2

Question 15

calculate percentage error given

experimental value of g = 9.33 m/s^2
actual value = 9.8m/s^2

Answer 15

4.8%

Question 16

Sketch velocity-time graph of a free-falling object. What does the slope of the line
represent?

Answer 16

If a velocity-time graph of a free-falling object was sketched, a straight line with a constant
negative slope can be observed. This is due to the application of constant acceleration on
the free-falling object. Additionally, the velocity of the object will speed up at a constant
acceleration downwards over time.

Question 17

Can an object have an increasing velocity and constant acceleration? Explain.

Answer 17

Yes, an object can have increasing velocity while experiencing constant acceleration. This
is because constant acceleration means that there is uniform change in velocity over time.
Thus, the object’s velocity will increase as time goes by. For example, an object starting
from rest while accelerating at a constant rate of 5 m/s2 will have its velocity increase
linearly. This concept can also be seen in one of the formulas expressed by the equation v
= vo +at, where v is the final velocity, vo is the initial velocity, a is the constant acceleration,
and t is the elapsed time.

Question 18

Can the velocity of an object be zero at the same instant its acceleration is non-zero?
Elaborate.

Answer 18

Absolutely. An object can have zero velocity with its acceleration at non-zero. This means
that an object is changing direction or coming to a stop. This can be illustrated by a ball
thrown upward and reaching its max distance due to gravity acting in the opposite
direction. At the peak trajectory, the ball’s velocity become zero but there is still the force
of gravity acting on it.