Which will fall faster?

Classical Mechanics Level 1

Two spheres of same size thrown off an aeroplane. They both are perfect spheres but are made of different materials .

Sphere A is made of a heavier metal so it is heavier.

Sphere B is made out of light material so it is not so heavy.

Which will fall faster?

Both will fall at equal speed Sphere A Sphere B

Kumudesh Ghosh by Kumudesh Ghosh , 14, India

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7 solutions

Odin Wang
Jul 23, 2020

Because sphere A is heavier, therefore it will fall faster.

9 Helpful 3 Interesting 3 Brilliant 5 Confused

That may be, but not because of gravity. Without influence of air molecules they would fall in exactly the same speed. This is because of the reason that Acceleration= Force/Mass or Force = Acceleration x Mass. As force is directly proportional to mass, acceleration is constant for a body of any mass.

Daniel Lawrenz - 10 months, 3 weeks ago

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I agree. The explanation above is criminally undetailed

Krishna Karthik - 10 months, 1 week ago

This is indeed very true.

The Academy - 10 months, 3 weeks ago

And I continue to be awed by the amount of people who are still completely clueless about Galileo's thought experiment, and the fact that any two objects will fall at the same rate in a vacuum.

Krishna Karthik - 10 months, 3 weeks ago

If we consider the Archimed force it is correct that the heaviest ball will fall faster. Silly question....

Jean-francois Tivoly - 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Or if we consider that g is not a constant in reality.

Jean-francois Tivoly - 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Or if we consider that we are not in a galiean frame and that in addition the plane has a tangential speed....réal l’y silly question

Jean-francois Tivoly - 10 months, 3 weeks ago
Krishna Karthik
Jul 24, 2020

Sphere A is heavier, so it'll take longer for it to reach terminal velocity. It will overcome wind resistance easier. This is the reason A falls faster. Of course, we know what will happen in a vacuum; both A and B will fall at the same rate.

5 Helpful 4 Interesting 4 Brilliant 0 Confused
Brian Tjung
Jul 24, 2020

  1. Both sphere A and B will have different Weights. Because Weight(A) > Weight(B)

  2. Air resistance is proportional to the surface area of the spheres. Since both A and B are the same size, they have the same surface areas and will therefore experience the same air resistance (until their speed is different, since air resistance is proportional to speed).

  3. Air resistance is a force ,so the sphere with the Larger Weight will experience a higher acceleration from the formula F=ma.

Conclusion 4. Which means A(Larger weight) will reach a higher terminal velocity(When Weight = Air resistance). Hence A falls faster than B.

1 Helpful 2 Interesting 1 Brilliant 1 Confused
Daniel Bello
Jul 24, 2020

The heavy ball would overcome wind resistance easily, way more easy than the lighter material would

2 Helpful 2 Interesting 2 Brilliant 0 Confused

Yes, therefore the lighter ball will more like floating to the ground instead of falling.

Odin Wang - 10 months, 3 weeks ago
Secret User
Oct 16, 2020

A heavier item will fall faster.

0 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused
Uygar Arabul
Oct 5, 2020

The same amount of air resistance applies to both balls, but the numbers in the force equation of the heavier ball are larger (earth pulls it more than it does to the light ball, the heavy ball takes a larger amount of force to move than the light ball does), so the factor of air resistance is a smaller force relative to the rest for the heavy ball.

0 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused
Okafor Nelson
Aug 8, 2020

The question said that sphere A is made of a heavier material than sphere B, clearly sphere A should fall faster than sphere B which implies that sphere A hits the floor first.

0 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused

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