Acceleration is constant during free fall
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64804/x5ey9355Keywords:
acceleration, gravity, free fall, kinematics, tennis ball, cricket ball, ggplot2, dplyr, Tracker, Galileo, AristotleAbstract
This experiment was intended to verify the principle of constant acceleration due to gravity during a free fall. Balls of different masses, including a ping pong ball, tennis ball, cricket ball, and bowling ball, were dropped from a fixed height of 5 m. We measured the time each ball took to hit the ground, with several replicates for each type of ball. Acceleration was computed assuming it was constant over the entire fall using a = − 2h/t2. The calculated accelerations for the balls ranged from −9.2 m/s2 to −10 m /s2 , approximately equal in magnitude to g = 9.8 m/s2 . Our findings support Galileo’s assertion that acceleration due to gravity near the Earth’s surface is constant, regardless of significant differences in mass.
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Data are available at https://github.com/devangel77b/427rdelarosa-lab1
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