If all things fall to earth at the same rate, why do some things weigh more than others?

Answer 1

seriously? Because they have more mass to them. This will probably help you out, i'm sure it's on VHS somewhere:

* The Magic School Bus Gains Weight (November 1, 1997)
o Topic: gravity
o Phoebe has been chosen to do a slam dunk for the whole school. How can she do that? She's not tall enough. She reasons that maybe if she just knew how it felt, then maybe she could do it. Therefore, Ms. Frizzle takes the class into outer space and transforms the school bus into a planet with adjustable gravity. With little gravity, Phoebe finds a slam dunk easy, but with no gravity it is impossible to even make the ball go through the basket. However, when the lever accidentally falls into the position of heavy gravity the class has trouble even standing up. They'll have to get the gravity back to normal in order to return to Earth in time for Phoebe's performance.

Answer 2

First for the falling part, think about this... every object has inertia. Mass is a factor of inertia. The more massive an object, the more inertia it has. The more intertia, the more gravity has to pull on it to get it moving. Yes, there is more mass for the gravity to exert its force upon, but it still has to overcome all the greater inertia. A smaller object has less mass to get moving. These things balance out so that gravity gets a small thing like a fishing line weight and a big thing like a gym barbell moving at the same rate to the center of the gravity well--ignoring effects of things like air resistance of course.

Now, why does the barbell weigh more than a fishing line weight? Well, how much force is needed to stop gravity from pulling each object to the ground? You're going to have to use more energy holding the barbell than you are the fishing weight. The Newton is a measure of the result of the energy needed and g [earth's gravity]. More energy, more Newtons and therefor more weight.

Answer 3

All things do not fall to earth at the same rate, because of the friction of air. All things fall at the same rate on the moon, because there is no air. Gravity pulls everything at the same rate, no matter how much something weighs, but when something falls through air, then friction slows it down. For example, a feather doesn't fall fast on earth because it is slowed down by air. If you dropped a feather and a hammer at the same time from the same altitude on the moon, they will both hit the ground at exactly the same time. Some things weigh more than others because their atoms are packed more tightly together. I answered your question, but to be honest, I really don't understand your question???? I think what you were trying to ask is, Why do things of different weights fall to earth at the same rate?

Answer 4

This is the sort of question that makes a good scientist. You are not just accepting the fact, but trying to understand it.

Gravity is a force that acts on the particles that make up something. Because every particle is pulled with the same force the entire object moves at the same speed.

Now because there are more particles in one object then you need force to resist gravity. That is why some things are heavier. Now some attoms contain more parts, so they are heavier (making some things heavier than others).

In terms of the General Theory of relativity, gravity warps space and time, so of course everything passes through the same amount of warp, and so falls at the same speed.

Answer 5

All previous answers are good because that is what they teach you in high school. BUT..the Physics behind it is explained from Newton universal Law of Gravity.

Things fall because the massive earth has a gravitational pull on all things that have mass. The rate they fall at is determined by multiplying the mass of the object falling and the mass of the Earth.(and other numbers like the gravitation constant and the radius of earth, but not important).

Because the mass of the earth is so large compared to something like a person, all things can be assumed to fall at the same rate. In actuality though, things with less mass fall slower than heavier objects (but the difference is very very small.)

This is easily proven with math by the way.

Answer 6

The rate at which things fall is the acceleration due to gravity, on earth a=9.81m/s^2. The weight of a thing is due to the force of gravity pulling it, F=ma. Therefore, since a is a constant the reason things have different weights is that they have different masses. Mass being how much matter a thing actually has.

Answer 7

Weight of a body on earth depends on two things - Mass of the body and acceleration due to gravity. Weight of the body is actually the product of these two quantities. On earth, acceleration due to gravity is same for every object. It is the factor which decides the rate of falling of a body. Rate of falling of body does not depend on mass. So, all bodies fall at same rate. But different bodies may have different masses. It is due to this difference of mass, that all bodies have different weights.

In outer space, where acceleration due to gravity is zero, wieght also becomes zero, and you feel weightlessness.

Answer 8

<>Everything falls at the same rate in a vacuum. On the Earth, falling things can be affected by air pressure and other factors. Consider this though: Which weighs more...a pound of feathers or a pound of iron? It is quantity that determines weight.

Answer 9

Because the gravitational pull is only one part of the equation. The force the pulls object down is determined by the Mass (m) x Gravity (g) = apparent weight. Also, the pull between objects increases as their mass increases. So, if you drop a bowling ball it and the earth will be pulled together at a little higher rate than say, a feather being dropped.

Answer 10

Objects falling from a static environment will fall at the same rate....because gravity pulls objects at the same rate....regardless of mass.

Once gravity pulls these objects onto a plane like the ground....the influence changes due to the mass....the force exerted by the differences in mass will have different mechanical influences on that surface....

Imagine the impact from 100,000 feet up between
a tennis ball....
and a 16 lb shot put

Impacts will be different because once the ground is introduced, the kinetic energy presented by each is affected by its mass....in other words, the ground would have to absorb more energy to stop the shot put than it would to stop the tennis ball.

kinetic energy can be released as well as absorbed....
when an object is moved, it absorbs kinetic energy in order to get moving....if that object then hits a surface it disperses it....

Imagine the kinetic energy of a truck versus a moped....which one would require more kinetic energy to get moving? And which one would require more to stop it?