Sage-Tips

Is gravity independent to the mass of object?

Objectives: Students will… see that the acceleration of an object due to gravity is independent of its mass. determine what they would weigh on other planets. see that the force they feel from gravity depends on the radius and the mass of the planet.

Does free fall depend on mass?

The mass of an object does not depend on the location, the weight does. An object that moves because of the action of gravity alone is said to be free falling. So all objects, regardless of size or shape or weight, free fall with the same acceleration.

Is acceleration due to gravity independent of mass?

The acceleration due to gravity does not depend on the mass of the object falling, but the force it feels, and thus the object’s weight, does. This tells us two things. One is that the speed at which an object falls does not depend on its mass.

What is the relationship between the force of gravity and the mass of the objects involved?

Since the gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of both interacting objects, more massive objects will attract each other with a greater gravitational force. So as the mass of either object increases, the force of gravitational attraction between them also increases.

What is independent of mass?

Mass is the quantity of matter in a physical body. It is also a measure of the body’s inertia, the resistance to acceleration (change of velocity) when a net force is applied. An object’s mass also determines the strength of its gravitational attraction to other bodies. The SI base unit of mass is the kilogram (kg).

Does gravity depend upon mass?

Mathematically, we say the force of gravity depends directly upon the masses of the objects and inversely upon the distance between the objects squared. Your weight is actually just the force of gravity between your body’s mass and the Earth’s mass.

Why is free fall independent of mass?

In other words, the pull of gravity on an object is proportional to its mass. In other words, with a bigger mass, a greater force must be applied to cause the same acceleration. Putting the two equations together, a = F/m = mg/m. As a result, the acceleration of free fall a = g, is independent of an object’s mass.

Why is free fall acceleration independent of mass?

“What are the factors that affect the acceleration due to gravity?” Mass does not affect the acceleration due to gravity in any measurable way. The two quantities are independent of one another. Free fall occurs whenever an object is acted upon by gravity alone.

How does gravity depend on the mass of the two objects?

The force of gravity depends directly upon the masses of the two objects, and inversely on the square of the distance between them. This means that the force of gravity increases with mass, but decreases with increasing distance between objects. However, the exponent on the mass terms is one.

Does the acceleration of a falling object depend on gravity?

The acceleration of a mass depends on the force, but the force depends on the mass. So the gravitational force increases with the mass of the falling object but the force required to accelerate the mass increases with mass, The two cancel each other. This is a good question and raises some follow ups.

Why do objects fall faster in free fall?

Free-fall is the motion of objects that move under the sole influence of gravity; free-falling objects do not encounter air resistance. More massive objects will only fall faster if there is an appreciable amount of air resistance present. The actual explanation of why all objects accelerate at the same rate involves the concepts of force and mass.

Does the mass of an object affect its rate of fall?

No matter what the mass of an object is, it will fall by the same amount of acceleration, however the force by which it strikes the surface of the earth is varything going by the formula : f=ma where a is fixed to be 9.81. All objects that fall toward the center of the earth fall at the same rate, if aerodynamics is not a factor.

What is the net external force for a free falling object?

For a free falling object, the net external force is just the weight of the object: Substituting into the second law equation gives: The acceleration of the object equals the gravitational acceleration. The mass, size, and shape of the object are not a factor in describing the motion of the object.