Experiment #2 (Right Picture):
In the second experiment, the student drops an iron ball and a crumpled ball of paper from the same height at the same time. The student determines that both the iron ball and paper ball hit the ground at approximately the same time. Explain why both the paper ball and iron ball hit the ground around the same time using the vocabulary from Unit 4.
Explain why the paper ball and iron ball fall at similar rates even though they. are made of different materials. You will lose a point if your answer does not include the vocabulary term air resistance (2pts.).
The reason why both the paper ball and iron ball hit the ground around the same time is due to the force of gravity acting on both objects. In the absence of any other forces, such as air resistance, all objects will fall towards the ground at the same rate regardless of their mass or composition. This is known as the acceleration due to gravity, which is approximately 9.8 m/s^2 on Earth.
Even though the paper ball and iron ball are made of different materials, they experience the same acceleration due to gravity because gravity acts on all objects equally. However, the presence of air resistance can affect the rate at which the objects fall. Air resistance is a force that opposes the motion of an object as it moves through the air. In this experiment, the crumpled paper ball has a larger surface area compared to the iron ball, which means it experiences a greater air resistance force. Despite this, the effect of air resistance is minimal compared to the force of gravity, allowing both objects to fall at similar rates and hit the ground at approximately the same time.