Name: Steffi Rana Date: 09/27/23

Student Exploration: Free Fall Tower

Vocabulary: accelerate, air resistance, free fall, gravity, terminal velocity, vacuum

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Patty climbs a tree. While sitting on a branch, she drops a leaf and an acorn at the same time.

What would happen? The acorn would fall on the ground faster because of it weight and the

leaf would float around in the air before falling to the ground because of air resistance.

2. Patty decides to try another experiment. From the same branch, she drops a large, heavy rock

and a small pebble. What would happen this time? Both the large heavy rock and the small

branch would fall at the same rate at the same time.

3. Gizmo Warm-up

In the Free Fall Tower Gizmo™, drag a pair of objects (no parachutes) to
the top of the tower, one to each platform. Check that Air is selected.

Click Play ( ). The objects are now in free fall, pulled to Earth by the

force of gravity.

1. What did you drop? Soccer ball and golf ball

2. Did the objects fall at the same rate? No, they didn’t.

3. Which object fell faster? The watermelon

4. Click Reset ( ). Drop each possible combination of objects without parachutes.

A. Which object fell fastest? Watermelon Slowest? Ping pong

B. Why do you think some objects fall faster than others? Object with more mass fall faster than
after objects smaller mass

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Free fall in a Click Reset.

vacuum Under Choose atmosphere, select Vacuum (no air).

Question: A vacuum is a region with no air or any other matter. How do different objects
fall through a vacuum?

1. Form hypothesis: How do you think objects will fall when there is no air? If there is no air
resistance, then both objects will hit the ground at the same time because gravity is the only
force on the objects.

2. Experiment: Drop the different objects from the top of the tower. What do you notice? Both have
the same speed and fall at the same time.

3. Observe: Click Reset. Drop the watermelon and the ping pong ball from the top of the tower.
Watch the speedometers. They show each object’s speed in meters per second (m/s).

A. What do you notice? The speed is equal in between the two objects

B. What is the final speed of each object? 2.86m/s

C. An object is accelerating if its speed is changing. What can you say about the acceleration of

objects falling in a vacuum? They are accelerating at a constant.

4. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. The graph shows the speeds of the objects over time.

A. What do the lines on the graph look like? A linear graph for both objects

B. What does that tell you? That the speed increases at constant rate

5. Extend your thinking: In 1971, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a
feather on the Moon, which has no air. What do you think happened? Explain your answer.

Both objects would fall to the ground at the same time because there is no air on the moon,
vacuum setting so there is equal amount of force on both objects.

(If you are on a computer, click here to see a video of this experiment.)
Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Air Resistance Click Reset.
Under Choose atmosphere, select Air.

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 Question: How does air affect falling objects?

1. Observe: In Air, drop the objects from different levels of the tower. Look carefully at the
speedometers as the objects drop. What do you notice?

The heavier objects have a higher speed and fall to the ground faster than the smaller and
lighter objects because the lighter objects have more air resistance, and the objects with more
mass cut through the air resistance.

2. Form hypothesis: When objects fall through the air, they are pushed by a force called air
resistance. How do you think air resistance affects falling objects?

If an object falls with air resistance acting on it than the speed will decrease because the upper
force of air will counteract the gravitational pull downward.

3. : Each platform on the tower is 5 meters higher than the one below it. Drop the ping pong ball
from the lowest (5 meter) platform, then the next platform (10 m) and so on. For each height,
record the final speed of the ping pong ball in meters per second (m/s).

Height 5m 10 m 15 m 20 m 25 m 30 m 35 m 40 m
Speed 1.13 1.77 2.36 2.95 3.53 4.12 4.70 5.29

4. Analyze: As an object falls through air, the object does not get steadily faster but approaches
Terminal Velocity.

A. What is the terminal velocity of the ping pong ball? The graph was showing 1

B. Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show terminal velocity? The curve in the graph

where it turns into a horizontal line is when it is in terminal velocity.

5. Compare: Drop the soccer ball and the golf ball from the top of the tower. Which ball was

slowed down more by air resistance? The soccer ball was more affected by the air resistance.

6. Extend your thinking: A soccer ball is heavier than a golf ball. Why do you think the soccer ball
fell more slowly than the golf ball?
The golf ball has less mass so the air resistance is acting with less force so it reaches the
ground faster than the heavier soccer ball. The gravitational pull isn’t a lot when it is a soccer
ball to compared to the gravitational pull for the golf ball.
Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Parachutes Click Reset.
Check that Air is still selected.

Question: How does a parachute affect a falling object?

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1. Observe: Drag objects with parachutes to the tower. (Parachutes look like little backpacks.) As
the objects drop, click Open parachute(s). Compare how parachutes affect each object.

2. Form hypothesis: How will a parachute change the air resistance and terminal velocity of an

object? If the parachute is added to an object than the velocity will decrease because the air

resistance will be greater.

3. Collect data: Find the terminal velocity of each object when the parachute is open.

Ping pong ball with parachute: 0.55 Soccer ball with parachute: 5

Golf ball with parachute: 2.3 Watermelon with parachute: 14

4. Analyze: The watermelon is heaviest, followed by the soccer ball, golf ball and ping pong ball.
How does the weight of an object relate to how fast it falls with a parachute?

The object is heavier than the terminal, the velocity will increase.

5. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show when the parachute is opened?

The velocity decreases and remains constant till it reaches the ground.

6. Predict: Will a parachute work in a vacuum? No Why or why not? The parachute goes hand in
hand with the air distance so since the vacuum has no air, there will be no air resistance for it to
act on the parachute.

7. Test: Use the Gizmo to test your prediction. Did the parachute work? No

8. Summarize: What controls how fast an object falls?

All objects will have the same velocity and acceleration when falling- if there is no air. With
air resistance, the objects mass will determine its speed.

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