The law of physics in regards to falling objects?

Question

Keep this in mind when you answer--don't just answer this question. I need for you to explain it to me in layman's terms so that I can use the formula to determine the rate of speed that something free falls to ground.

Stuart, if you could, I need a more detailed explanation.

How did you come across 32 feet per second and you used the term, "until it reaches terminal velocity".

I need a much more detailed answer. I'm so illiterate when it comes to physics that I need a very detailed answer.

Stuart, I should have said 32 feet per second squared.

Let me add this to the question. If I had a cue ball and I was on top of a fifty story building (let's say that a story is seven feet so that would mean we're talking about 350 feet) using these formulas, how long would it take for the cue ball to hit the ground.

I'm sorry to all you have answer so far. I should have included this in my original question.

To confused :p-does this mean it will be 150 ft/second even if it were 10,000 feet?

Answer 1

gravity.

gravity exerts a force on an object dependent on the mass of the earth and that object;

Force = (Gravitational constant)*(Mass of earth)*(Mass of object) all divided by the square of the distance between the center of the earth and object

You can then work out the acceleration;
Force = Mass * Acceleration

Then by applying the amount of time it has been falling from rest, you can figure out what speed it is going.

If you want to bypass that calculation; acceleration from gravity is 9.81 m/s^2. That is a number independent of the mass of the object. Hence the experiment that shows when you remove air resistance, a feather and rock fall at the same speed.

edit;
your ball dropping. assuming that there is no air resistance, the time it would take to reach the bottom is;
distance = 1/2*acceleration*time^2
350 = 1/2*32*time^2
therefore time = sqrt(350/16) = 4.7 seconds.

in 4.7 seconds, the ball would be traveling at 32*4.7 = 150 feet per second.

edit2;
no, if it was 10,000 feet it would have fallen for a longer time and so have accelerated to a higher speed. by the time you get to that distance terminal velocity and air resistance are guaranteed to become a factor.

Answer 2

Newton's 3rd Law. Just think of a balloon. When you let air out of the balloon, air pushes out with a force in one direction (action). This magically causes an equal/opposite force on the balloon, pushing it the other direction (equal and opposite reaction). As to exactly WHY it happens, that's the way the universe works. For a beginner's course, I don't think you need to know anything beyond what the law simply states. Imagine a small person and big person standing on ice. The small person pushes against the big person. The big person exerts an opposite force back. The small person moves but the big person stays still (or barely moves at all). Does that mean the big person exerted a bigger force causing the small person to move? No! They both exerted the same force on each other. Then why did the small person move? It has to do with Newton's 2nd Law and their mass. F / m = a The smaller the mass, the bigger the acceleration and the object moves. The bigger then mass, the smaller the acceleration and the harder it is for the object to move. That's the same idea with you pushing off a wall. The wall is a part of the Earth and the Earth's mass is, well, gigantic compared to yours. So that's why the wall doesn't move, but it doesn't mean the forces are unequal.

Answer 3

All dense objects fall to Earth with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2.

Neglecting air resistance, the speed can be calculated as:

v = vi + at
v: velocity at the point you want to measure
vi: initial velocity (often 0)
a: acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2)
t: time the object has been falling

Answer 4

If we neglect the resistace of the air, all material objects when let go fall to the earth with constant acceleration denoted by a=g=9.81m/s.with initial velocity zero, the velocity v and distance s covered in time t are given by:
v=gt
s=1/2gt^2. ANS.
this fall is called free fall.

Answer 5

When falling objects accelerate towards the earth at a rate of about 9.8m/s^2. Or, 9.8 meters per second per second. What that means is that for every second that passes the object will increase in its velocity moving towards the earth by 9.8 meters per second. So, if you dropped a rock from a window of a building after 1 second it would be falling at a rate of 9.8 meters per second. After 2 seconds it would be falling at a rate of 19.6 meters per second and so on.

Answer 6

A falling body accellerates as it falls. The rate of accelleration is 32 feet per second squared.

It keeps accellerating until it reaches terminal velocity.

Answer 7

Having read these answers, I can see why I am not a physics expert. I'm more confused for having read them. I will most certainly stick with the areas for which I'm better educated and experienced.

Steve, if you would be so kind as to turn your messages on in 360, we can re-open the dialogue. At present, email is not an option.

I had hoped to see a response from you by now. I have updated my blog to the conspiracy message with both edits marked by ** and written a new blog article which clearly identifies where I stand on issues which you have stated you feel important.

Using your own parameters, I have spent a full day of my time examining the evidence and reporting on them in an objective manner. I have reported my results as well as my allowance for error in my findings. As your questions on this particular element of a conspiracy theory have now taken up two days of my time, I will ask that you in fairness read those two articles, objectively.

The indicting questions you asked have now been de-bunked using video evidence and I am sorry that you have been taken in by someone who made false statements. I believe you are a smart and honorable person who trusted the wrong person.

So now, it is my turn to ask you why someone would purposely make these false statements which has clearly altered your belief system as well as having taken up my time to prove to you that he or she has led you astray.?

And as I have taken the time to investigate and prove these statements to be false (or plausible as some of the statements were proven in my examination), will you now objectively look at those things I have researched and experienced?

Realize that I in no way expect you to 'retire' from YA. My objective is not to silence anyone. On the contrary, those such as Chris B prove many of my points. On the other hand, you have given me opportunity to make many points in an open reasonable dialogue, for the most part. My objective is purely to put out the truth that has not been reported by a media with an agenda. I put out things which may in fact be uncomfortable but I have personal knowledge or independent verifiable research to be true.

360 is easy. And it appears that you have the account but simply haven't changed it to allow messages from all.

If you click on "home" "my page" or almost any blue word above my page, it will take you to your setup page. I did not do that for a long time.

Answer 8

gravity causes constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s^s

this means when you disregard air resistence, an object in free-fall will speed up by 9.81 m/s each second.

if you want to take into account wind resistence, it is a complex formula, you need differential equations to solve it (differential equations is one step higher than calculus)

But I can say that wind resistence varies with the square of velocity, so if the speed of an object doubles, the wind resistence goes up to 4 times the original amount.

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

nice to see you back steve. good question too. trying to figure out how the towers fell at free fall speed are we? explosives is the correct answer. physics and gravity were not on vacation on 9/11. clearly there are several intelligent people answering this question. so why are so many still in the dark on this?