Summary
Returns to gravity to explore what happens when objects fall — acceleration due to gravity, terminal velocity, and how air resistance changes a falling object's behavior. A great companion to the earlier gravity episodes.
Viewer safety
All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- If you dropped a bowling ball and a tennis ball from the same height in a vacuum, which would hit first?
- What is air resistance? How does it affect a parachute vs. a rock?
- What is terminal velocity? What determines it?
- Why do skydivers change position to control their falling speed?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: gravity, air resistance, terminal velocity, acceleration, vacuum, drag.
Try it: Drop a flat sheet of paper and a crumpled ball of the same paper from the same height. Which lands first? Why? Repeat in a hall with no drafts to reduce variables.