when does the mass/size of an obejct affect the time of its free fall?

Answer 1

If you ignore air resistance, on our planet where g is -9.98m/s^2 ALL objects of any mass will fall with an acceleration of -9.98m/s^2!

They will not bounce the same though!

Since F=ma
and we both know their acceleration (a) is -9.98m/s^2
The force of impact will be different however, depending on the mass, but the VELOCITY WONT CHANGE!


But with the air resistance factor it is different:

If you drop a 1 kg open tent and a bowling ball from a plane then it will be different because of air resistance, the tent wont fall as fast! (ie: a parachute works with air resistance)

Answer 2

The acceleration due to gravity is independent of the mass and size of the object Hence if the only force that acts is gravity, the mass and size have no effect on the free fall time.

However, other forces do depend on size. In particular, resistance from air depends roughly on the cross-sectional area of the object.

Interestingly, since gravitational force depend on mass which is roughly proportional to volume, the ratio of the gravitatonal force divided by the friction depends on volume/area = length. For very small objects, such as fleas, friction is relatively huge, and the time taken for the object to fall to earth is much longer than for, say, a football.

For even smaller objects, Brownian motion can almost prevent an object from falling at all. For instance, a germ is much smaller than a flea. A germ can stay airbiorne for a long long time.

You can check the flea and the football by direct visual observation and measurement. If you can't find a flea, try a feather.

Answer 3

It should not affect the time at all. Any mass/size object would have the same free fall time.