A ball is dropped and another ball of smaller mass is fired horizontally from the same height.?

Question

Which ball has greater acceleration when it hits the ground? Which ball hits the ground first?

Answer 1

The vertical velocity is the same for both.

But the force with which they hit the ground is different.

The greater mass M hits with a greater momentum Mv and smaller mass with less momentum m v.

More force is necessary to stop greater mass than to stop the smaller mass.

However the acceleration is the same for both the masses and is now acting against the motion .



The horizontal velocity does not contribute to the force.

Just before hitting, both had the same acceleration g downward.

But at the instant it touches the ground, reaction force acts and the acceleration is now upward.

If there is no such acceleration, the balls will go into the earth due to the acceleration g.

Both the balls hit the ground at the same time.

Answer 2

The balls would hit the ground at the same time cuz their acceleration is independent of mass. In this case, the acceleration is due to gravity at 9.8m/s^2.

Points to note: 1) The balls are released from the same origin. 2) since the ball fired has a force perpendicular to gravity, it does not have any effect on it's vertical acceleration.

However, something more interesting to note that since F=ma (Force = mass x acceleration) since 'a' is constant at 9.8, if 'm' goes up, 'F' goes up so the larger mass would hit with a greater force. cool huh?

Answer 3

Both balls should hit the ground at the same time and the same acceleration. If all sorts of simplifying assumptions are true of course, like no air friction, the balls are much smaller than the Earth, the one fired is not fired at escape velocity, neglecting the curvature of the Earth, the rotation of the Earth, and so on.

Answer 4

Both balls hit the ground at the same time. While the second ball has velocity in the X direction, that does not affect its acceleration in the Y direction. Acceleration is independent of mass.

Acceleration on Earth is approximately 9.8 meters per second squared.

Answer 5

well there are 2 anwsers to this question 1) The ball which is dropped vertically downwards has -g acceleration on y axis it vertically downward 2)The ball thrown horzontally has also acceleration -g downwards and acceleration on the x axis depends on its initial velocity. The first ball thrown vertically downwards falls first s it has the least distance to cover and has only 1 force acting on it(assuming ai resistance is negligible) mass dosent affect the answer.

Answer 6

the dropped ball is falling at 32ft/s^2, the fired ball has it's horizontal velocity, but gravity still causes the ball to fall at 32ft/s^2. they both fall at the same rate.

Answer 7

They both hit at the same time with equal acceleration.