Question

How do you think air resistance affects measured values of g? If you used a ping pong ball, for example, how would this affect the fall-time? Would you expect the ping pong ball and the steel ball to land at the same time if they were both dropped from a height of ϭ.ϱm? What would happen if you dropped both balls from a height of ϮϬm?

Answer 1

A) Air resistance acts in a direction opposite the the fall of an object reducing it by doing work against the weight of the object due to gravity.

B) using a ping pong ball, the time of fall will be greatly reduced since it has little weight (its mass x acceleration due to gravity) against the air resistance. The net downward force of the weight and the air resistance will be small.

C) No, I wouldn't expect them to fall at the same time. The steel ball will have more weight compared to the ping pong ball and hence it will have a larger net force downwards.

D) If they are both released from a 6 m height, the steel ball will fall to the ground first since it has a larger net force downwards.