Acceleration due to Gravity activity 2

Activity No # 1 - Freely falling object

Estimated Time

30 minutes

Materials/ Resources needed

Projector

Multimedia resources

Image:

The image on the side, spanning half a second, was captured with a stroboscopic flash at 20 flashes per second. During the first 1⁄20 of a second the ball drops one unit of distance (here, a unit is about 12 mm); by 2⁄20 it has dropped at total of 4 units; by 3⁄20, 9 units and so on. Check here for a more detailed description.

Process (How to do the activity)

1. Project the picture for the class and discuss the following questions

Developmental Questions (What discussion questions)

1. Where is the ball at time = 0?
2. In the first (1/20)th of a second, what is the distance travelled by ball?
3. In the second (1/20)th of a second, what is the distance travelled by ball?
4. How does the distance fallen increase with time?
5. What can you say about the motion?

Question Corner

Will the ball also attract the Earth and produce an acceleration?

Activity Keywords

1. Picture
2. Discussion

Back