Have you ever played with magnets? The Earth acts like a giant magnet, pulling everything near it to the ground. It pulls on bigger objects more than little objects. But it's harder to pull larger objects down than little ones. That's why they all fall at the same speed to the ground.
Have you ever jumped off a swing? Gravity pulls you down at the same speed as a ball that you throw into the air! It doesn't matter how big you are! Isaac Newton was one of the first scientists to work with gravity.
Things that are farther away aren't pulled on as much, so they fall slower than objects near the ground.
Submitted by Danielle (age 9, California, USA), Matthew (age 11, Ontario, Canada), Adrienne (age 33, Michigan, USA), G.S.(age 40, New Jersey, USA), K(age 13, Chennai , India)
(May 18, 1999)
Everything falls to the Earth at the same speed, it doesn't matter how big or small it is. A falling object falls faster and faster like a car moving down a road. How come they all fall at the same speed?
Isaac Newton showed us that larger objects have a bigger attraction to Earth than small objects. But, the extra attraction is necessary because it takes more force to pull the larger objects down. The result is an equalling out, with the speed staying the same for all objects!
Gravity gets weaker when you move farther away from Earth. If you hold a ball at three feet and one at 6 feet, they will fall at almost exactly the same speed. But if you were on top of a mountain and you dropped a ball, it would fall at a slower speed because gravity isn't pulling as hard.
Submitted by Danielle (age 9, California, USA), Matthew (age 11, Ontario, Canada), Adrienne (age 33, Michigan, USA), G.S.(age 40, New Jersey, USA), K(age 13, Chennai , India)
(May 18, 1999)
Gravity is defined as an attraction between two objects. Everything in the Universe with mass has gravity, but only large objects like planets or moons have a gravity strong enough to affect other things.
Everything falls to Earth at the same speed, regardless of the mass. Isaac Newton developed his Second Law, which states that the force exerted on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. In the case of Earth's gravity, we say that the amount of force the Earth uses to pull an object down is equal to the object's mass times its acceleration. So why don't heavier objects fall faster?
Imagine a car and a rock falling to Earth. The car has a greater mass, so it has a greater attraction to Earth than the rock. However, because it is so large, the Earth has to pull harder to get it down. Basically, this means that all objects fall at the same speed, because the mass the object and the force applied by Earth change at the same rate.
Scientists discovered that the acceleration of gravity is about 9.81 meters per squared seconds. Unfortunately, it is difficult to test this theory at home because other influences like air can affect the speed of the object. Although if you drop a ball and a feather in an air tight tube, you will see that both fall to the ground at the same time!
In the case of two bags of formula, there will actually be a very slight difference in the emptying speed. The farther away an object is from Earth, the smaller the gravitational pull. However, a small distance such as 3 feet is too small to make a difference. If one bag was at 3 feet and another at 3 miles, the bag at 3 miles would not empty as quickly!
Submitted by Danielle (age 9, California, USA), Matthew (age 11, Ontario, Canada), Adrienne (age 33, Michigan, USA), G.S.(age 40, New Jersey, USA), K(age 13, Chennai , India)
(May 18, 1999)
Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team
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