Final answer:
To make a piece of paper fall nearly as fast as a book, crumpling it into a ball is effective as it reduces air resistance by decreasing the surface area. This concept is highlighted by comparison experiments and is fundamental for athletes and engineers who work to minimize drag force for better performance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phenomena observed when dropping a textbook and a crumpled piece of paper from the same height can be explained by air resistance. When you change the shape of the paper to be more compact, as in crumpling it into a ball, you reduce the surface area and thus decrease the air resistance. This allows the paper to fall nearly as fast as the textbook, which is not significantly slowed by air resistance due to its greater mass and smaller surface area. Adding weight to the paper will also help it fall faster by increasing its mass relative to the air resistance it experiences. However, stretching out the paper to catch more air would have the opposite effect, making it fall slower due to increased air resistance.
To further understand the concept, you can perform an experiment where you drop a crumpled paper ball and an uncrumpled piece of paper from the same height and compare the rates at which they fall. The crumpled ball experiences less air resistance than the uncrumpled paper, so it should hit the ground first. This illustrates how air resistance can influence the falling speed of objects with different shapes and surface areas, even if their masses are the same. Therefore, the correct answer is b) Crumple it to reduce air resistance, which is often done by sports and automotive engineers to enhance performance by reducing drag force.