if a feather and bowling ball are dropped from the same height at the same time, the bowling ball will hit the ground first. when air resistance is removed, they both hit the ground at the same time. explain why this happens.
When both the feather and the bowling ball are dropped from the same height at the same time, they experience gravitational acceleration pulling them downwards. However, the difference in their shapes and masses leads to their different behaviors.
With air resistance present, the feather, being light and having a larger surface area, experiences more resistance compared to the bowling ball. Air molecules interact with the feather, causing drag and slowing down its descent. On the other hand, the bowling ball, being more massive and having a smaller surface area relative to its weight, experiences less air resistance and continues to fall more quickly.
However, when air resistance is removed or reduced significantly, both the feather and the bowling ball experience the same gravitational acceleration. In the absence of air resistance, they both fall with the same acceleration, leading to them hitting the ground at the same time.
In conclusion, the presence of air resistance affects the descent speed of objects, causing lighter and more aerodynamically shaped objects like feathers to fall slower compared to heavier and less aerodynamic objects like bowling balls.
When a feather and a bowling ball are dropped from the same height at the same time in the presence of air, the bowling ball will hit the ground first. This is due to the effect of air resistance or drag on the falling objects.
Air resistance is a force that opposes the motion of objects through the air. When an object falls, the force of gravity pulls it downward, but air resistance acts in the opposite direction, causing a retarding force that slows down the object's motion.
In the case of the feather, it has a large surface area and is lightweight, resulting in a greater amount of air resistance compared to the heavier bowling ball. As a result, the feather experiences a significant opposing force that counters the gravitational force pulling it down. This causes the feather to fall more slowly.
On the other hand, the bowling ball has a smaller surface area relative to its mass, which means it experiences less air resistance compared to the feather. Consequently, the bowling ball is less affected by air resistance and falls more quickly.
If air resistance is completely removed, for example, in a vacuum environment, both the feather and the bowling ball will fall with only the force of gravity acting on them. In this scenario, without any opposing force to slow down the motion, both objects will fall at the same rate and hit the ground at the same time. This principle is often demonstrated by dropping objects inside a vacuum chamber.
In summary, the difference in air resistance between the feather and the bowling ball causes the bowling ball to hit the ground first when dropped in the presence of air. However, when air resistance is eliminated, both objects fall at the same rate and will hit the ground simultaneously.
The reason why a feather and a bowling ball fall at different rates when air resistance is present, but fall at the same rate when air resistance is removed, can be explained by the forces acting on each object.
When the feather and the bowling ball are dropped from the same height, they experience two primary forces: gravity and air resistance. Gravity is a force that pulls objects downward, while air resistance opposes the motion of objects moving through the air.
In the presence of air resistance, the feather is more affected than the bowling ball. The feather has a larger surface area compared to its mass, which means it experiences a greater air resistance force. This force slows down the feather's descent, causing it to take longer to reach the ground compared to the bowling ball. The bowling ball, on the other hand, experiences less air resistance due to its smaller surface area, allowing it to fall more quickly.
However, if we remove the effects of air resistance, the forces acting on both objects simplify to just gravity. In the absence of air resistance, all objects, regardless of their size or mass, fall at the same rate. This is known as the principle of equal acceleration or the equivalence principle.
The equivalence principle is explained by Galileo's famous experiment with falling objects. He hypothesized that in the absence of air resistance, the acceleration due to gravity is the same for all objects. This means that both the feather and the bowling ball will experience the same acceleration towards the ground, causing them to hit the ground at the same time.
In conclusion, the presence of air resistance is the main factor that causes the feather and the bowling ball to fall at different rates. When air resistance is removed, the only force acting on both objects is gravity, resulting in equal acceleration and the objects hitting the ground at the same time.