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Understanding Gravity's Acceleration

This section covers the acceleration due to gravity, identifying it as the cause of vertical motion for objects near Earth's surface. It explains that in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate, with a constant acceleration of 9.8 m/s², regardless of their physical characteristics. Demonstrations and motion diagrams illustrate the effects of gravity and the concept of free fall.

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4 views7 pages

Understanding Gravity's Acceleration

This section covers the acceleration due to gravity, identifying it as the cause of vertical motion for objects near Earth's surface. It explains that in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate, with a constant acceleration of 9.8 m/s², regardless of their physical characteristics. Demonstrations and motion diagrams illustrate the effects of gravity and the concept of free fall.

Uploaded by

qfj6gbkdgv
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

3.

2 Acceleration due to gravity


Section Goals

You will learn to


• Identify gravity as the cause of the vertical
acceleration of an object moving near the surface of
the Earth.
• Display the effects of gravity on an object using
motion diagrams.
• Model the idealized case of vertical motion in the
absence of other influences, such as air resistance,
using the concept of free fall.
3.2 Acceleration due to gravity
● positions of a falling ball recorded
at equal time intervals of 0.05 s.
● displacement of the ball get larger
after each interval
→ the speed increases as it falls:
◦ ball accelerates.
●
Will look at
◦ what is the magnitude of the
acceleration as an object falls?
◦ does acceleration depend on the
physical characteristics of the
object?
Air resistance
● Does the acceleration of an object as it falls depend on
the physical characteristics of the object?

Demonstration
Hold a book and a sheet of paper, cut to the same size as
the book, side by side 1 m above the floor. Hold the
paper parallel to the floor and the book with its covers
parallel to the floor, and release them at the same instant.
Which hits the floor first? Now put the paper on top of
the book. What will happen?
A) The book will fall faster than the paper
B) Both will fall at the same rate
3.2 Acceleration due to gravity
● What is the magnitude of
acceleration due to
gravity as an object falls?
◦ In vacuum with no air
resistance →
acceleration due to gravity
does not depend on the
type of object.
● motion of an object under
the influence of gravity
only = free fall.
Magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity?
● part (a) = positions-versus-time
graph of a falling ball
● part (b) = Δx = xn – xn–1
◦ foreach successive 0.05 s
◦ points lie on a straight line

→ magnitude of displacement
increases at a constant rate
→ the magnitude of the velocity
increases at a constant rate (i.e.
The ball’s acceleration is
constant).
3.2 Acceleration due to gravity
● What is the magnitude of acceleration due to
gravity as an object falls?

◦ Experiments show that in the absence of air


resistance, the magnitude of the acceleration of
all falling objects is 9.8 m/s²

◦ i.e. the amount of time it takes to fall from a certain


height is the same for all freely falling objects.
Homework

● Please make sure you actively read through 3.2 –


especially all the checkpoints not covered here
& make your own notes.
● Next:
◦3.3 Projectile motion

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