2007-01-27 18:24:33 · 6 answers · asked by jamoo 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
A freely falling object is one that is subject to the acceleration of gravity, but to no other accelerations (such as friction).
The key point is that all parts of the object are undergoing the SAME acceleration.
By way of contrast, if you're standing on the ground, the floor is pushing on the soles of your feet but not on the rest of your body. (What keeps you from collapsing into a gooey mess is further pushing of parts of your body against each other.)
2007-01-27 18:43:05 · answer #1 · answered by Curt Monash 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An object accelerated by gravity and moving towards earth ( or the hevenly body under reference) and without any air registance or any other registance whatsoever. A body accelerated by earth ( or the hevenly body under reference) and moving around it as a satellite also falls in this category. The important thing is that the body is acted upon the earth to the extent of gravitational force between the two. If this body happens to be a capsule , housing somebody therein, the person also experiences the same acceleration as the capsule itself and thus has no relative velocity with respect to the capsule. This means the person perceives the other things inside the capsule intact while all of them are falling in the same speed; thus feels completely weightless. Therefore the scientific community defines weight not as the net force on the body ( due to gravity or otherwise) but the reaction of the measuring instrument (assumed to be fixed) with reference to the body falling. To be clear, if a spring balance is hooked to the ceiling and a body is hanged from it, the body would be falling while the spring balance won't. Instead, it iwould elongate and give a reading of the weight of the body hanging to it. Now suppose the spring balance is also falling along with the body hung from it then obviously it won't register any weight ! simple as that. This feature was used to make spacemen feel weightless - something like taking them high up in an opaque capsule and dropping the capsule on the oscen. The capsule being opaque does not essentialy matter, but looking at the sorroundings speeding backwards may not help feeling weightless psychologically.
2007-01-28 02:45:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
free fall means falling neglecting air resistance. Say, you have a ball of iron and a feather, if you drop it when your on top of a building obviously the iron ball will reach the ground first. But if its free fall, both will reach the ground at the same time!
2007-01-28 05:06:30 · answer #3 · answered by p319 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's falling. nothing in it's way. and usually in basic high school physics, that means that resistance does not come into play, you just kinda neglect it for the sake of simplicity.
2007-01-28 02:28:10 · answer #4 · answered by eriq p 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Take a rock and throw it up in the air. As it is falling... it is " free falling ".
2007-01-28 02:34:21 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that gravity is not acting on it sweetie:)
2007-01-28 02:30:24 · answer #6 · answered by Texy 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋