Ten > Force and Motion
What is free fall? Give two examples of it.
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Solution
When a body falls freely towards the centre of any heavenly body under the influence of gravity without any other external factors acting on it, then the motion of the body is known as free fall. Examples of freefall are:
- Skydiving: When a skydiver jumps out of an airplane and falls towards the Earth before opening their parachute, they experience free fall. During this time, the only significant force acting on them is gravity.
- Falling of objects in vacuum: If you drop a feather and a hammer on the Moon (where there is no atmosphere), they will fall at the same rate because there’s no air resistance. This was famously demonstrated by astronaut David Scott during the Apollo 15 mission.
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