A boy holds an apple as shown.
Why doesn’t gravity cause the apple to fall to the ground?
(1 point)
Responses
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with greater magnitude than the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with greater magnitude than the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are unbalanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are unbalanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with greater magnitude than the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are unbalanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with greater magnitude than the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are unbalanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The correct answer is: The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
The correct answer is: The force of his hand pushes up on the apple with equal magnitude to the force of gravity, which pulls down on the apple. The two forces are balanced, so the apple doesn't fall.
To understand why gravity doesn't cause the apple to fall to the ground, we need to consider Newton's Third Law of Motion and the concept of balanced forces.
According to Newton's Third Law of Motion, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the boy holds the apple, he exerts a force on the apple with his hand, pushing it upwards. At the same time, the Earth exerts a force on the apple due to gravity, pulling it downwards. These two forces are equal in magnitude but act in opposite directions.
Since the forces are balanced, meaning they have equal magnitudes but opposite directions, the apple remains in a state of equilibrium and doesn't fall to the ground. If there were an imbalance in the forces, for example, if the force of the boy's hand were greater than the force of gravity, the apple would accelerate upwards.
So, in summary, the reason why gravity doesn't cause the apple to fall to the ground is because the force of the boy's hand pushing up on the apple is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force of gravity pulling it downwards.