2. Today’s Topic Free Fall

3. What is Free Fall? Free Fall Free Fall is when an object moves downward only as the result of gravity. When an object is in Free Fall we ignore air resistance. In other words, we treat it as if it were in a vacuum.

4. Free Fall In a vacuum, such as space, the only thing acting on an object is gravity. As a result, all things fall with the same acceleration. Why?Why

5. Free Fall Galileo Galilei 1564-1642 Galileo was born the same year Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. Galileo’s work involved the study of motion and astronomy.

6. Free Fall Galileo’s experiments showed that all objects fall at the same speed no matter what their weight. This contradicted the official position of the Catholic Church at the time, and as a result Galileo was labeled a heretic. He was placed under house arrest in 1638 where he remained until he died six years later.

7. Free Fall When gravity acts on an object we call this gravitational acceleration or g. Scientists have determined that the average gravitational acceleration on Earth is 9.8 m/s 2. Would the value of g be the same on the moon or on Mars?

8. Free Fall How Fast?How Far?

9. Free Fall Remember, velocity and acceleration are not the same thing.