if you drop a golf ball and ping pong ball simultaneously off a ladder the golf ball hits first. why?

Answer 1

Golf ball has less air resistance, from all of the dimples on the ball.

Answer 2

The higher up you go the further the distance of the drop and because a golf ball weighs more than a ping pong ball it will fall faster picking up speed on its way down. The ping pong ball doesn't gain much speed at all.

Answer 3

Everyone has told you that it's because of the mass of the balls which is correct but let me tell you why that causes the ping pong ball to fall slower. Since the air is pushing up on the balls the same in other words with the same amount of force (because of the balls being the same size) it all depends on the down force created by the balls. Force is equal to mass X acceleration (gravity). Since the mass of the golfball is greater that means that the down force on that golf ball is going to be more than the down force of the ping pong ball. Since the down force is greater on the golf ball than the down force on the ping pong ball it falls faster. Because the force of the air is pushing up with the same force the golf ball over comes that force more, therefore moving faster. If it was in a vacuum (no air or any other matter in the space between the your hand and the floor) there would be no force pushing up against the balls and they would be pulled down at the speed of gravity.

Answer 4

In short, this happens because of drag due to air resistance. If you were to do this in vacuum, then the two would hit the ground at the same time. However, since there's drag, they won't. The reason that the golf ball will hit the ground faster is primarily because of the substantially larger weight.

The force due to gravity is much larger on the golf ball than it is on the ping pong ball. The retarding force due to drag is proportional to the velocity of the ball. When the force due to gravity equals force due to drag, there will no longer be any accelertation and the ball falls at a constant velocity called terminal velocity. Since the force due to gravity is much larger on the golf ball than on the ping pong ball, the terminal velocity on the golf ball is going to be higher than the terminal velocity on the ping pong ball, all else being equal. The "all else" clause is a statement on the proportionality constant between drag force and velocity. Since they are both in air and the sizes of the balls are similar (hence similar Stoke's radius), you can make the assumption that the proportionality constant is going to be roughly similar for the two balls. So terminal velocity is just proportional to force of gravity. The heavier golf ball ends up falling faster than the ping pong ball due to air drag.

Answer 5

They would fall at the same in a vacuum, but here you have to do a force balance. The force of the friction caused by air on the ping pong has more of an effect on its downward velocity because it has less mass, frictional forces are associated with the mass of the object in question. The golf ball falls faster because it is able to overcome the frictional forces. Basically the golf ball is more dense, therefore falls faster in a fluid.

Answer 6

The mass of the golf ball is much greater than that of the ping-pong ball and is less affected by air resistance.
(In fact a good breeze or up-draft will divert and slow down the ping-pong ball considerably).

(In a vacuum, (no air resistance), they will hit the bottom at the same time).

Answer 7

The weight of the golf ball allows it to reach it's terminal velocity before the ping pong ball. Also wind is more likely to affect the ping pong ball

Answer 8

Golf ball has dimples which make the air flow around the ball go into a turbulent state. Turbulent air will have less drag around the ball then laminar (air foil effect). The ping pong ball is smooth, so the air flow around it will be more laminar (more drag).

Answer 9

Depends on the ladder. A very tall one might enable the ping-pong ball to reach terminal velocity. In a vacuum, they would hit at the same time.

Answer 10

The golf ball is heavier. But if you were to drop them in an airless container then they would hit the ground at the same time because there would not be any air drifts for them to get caught up in. It is proven science.