Which statement best explains why a paper airplane eventually falls on the ground?
a inertia slows the airplane and pulls it down.
b The unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity slow the airplane and pull it down.
c Inertia prevents new forces from acting on the airplane to keep it up
d The force from throwing the airplane loses strength as the airplane movess
b The unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity slow the airplane and pull it down.
The statement that best explains why a paper airplane eventually falls on the ground is: b) The unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity slow the airplane and pull it down.
The correct answer is option b: The unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity slow the airplane and pull it down.
To understand why a paper airplane falls on the ground, we need to consider the forces acting upon it. When the paper airplane is thrown into the air, two main forces affect its motion: air resistance and gravity.
Air resistance is a force that opposes the motion of objects moving through the air. As the paper airplane moves forward, it encounters air molecules that push against it. These air molecules create a resistance force, which acts in the opposite direction of the airplane's motion. Initially, this force is relatively small when the airplane is moving fast and has less exposure to the air.
On the other hand, gravity is a force that pulls objects towards the center of the Earth. Regardless of the shape or material, all objects near the Earth's surface experience the force of gravity. This force is always directed downwards, towards the ground.
When the paper airplane is thrown, it gains an initial forward motion due to the force applied when it is thrown. However, as the airplane moves through the air, air resistance slows it down. While gravity pulls the airplane downward, the air resistance force becomes stronger as the airplane slows down. Eventually, the combined effect of the unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity becomes significant enough to overcome the forward motion, causing the paper airplane to slow down further and eventually fall to the ground.
Therefore, the correct answer is b: The unbalanced forces of air resistance and gravity slow the airplane and pull it down.