In a vacuum, a stone and feather fall at the same time. Can you make the assumption that the acceleration of gravity acting on both objects is the same? Explain.
If there are no other forces, then the acceleration is the same, but the force depends on their mass.
a=F1/m1=F2/M2
so the quantity (F/m) does not imply force is the same unless mass is the same.
To determine whether the acceleration of gravity acting on both objects is the same, we can refer to Newton's second law of motion, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration (F = ma). In the case of falling objects, the force acting on each object is the force of gravity, which can be calculated using the equation Fg = mg, where m is the mass of the object and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
Now, when we consider a vacuum, it means that there is no air resistance acting on the objects. In the presence of air resistance, objects with different shapes and surface areas experience different amounts of air resistance, influencing their acceleration. However, in a vacuum, the absence of air resistance eliminates this variable, allowing us to make the assumption that the acceleration of gravity acting on both the stone and feather is the same.
In reality, on Earth, the acceleration due to gravity is approximately 9.8 m/s². However, the mass of the stone is usually much greater than that of the feather, so even in the presence of air resistance, the stone would fall faster due to its greater acceleration. But in a vacuum, since the acceleration of gravity is the same for both objects, they would fall at the same rate.