Aristotelian Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain Aristotle’s conceptions in motion (vertical
motion, horizontal motion, and projectile motion).

Aristotle is one of most influential Greek philosophers whose ideas were the basis for many
concepts that time.

How did he view and explain the motion of objects?

Aristotle’s view on motion was based on his observations, which made his ideas acceptable and
stood for many years.

Motion is an object’s change in position with respect to time. According to Aristotle, motion can either
be a natural motion or a violent motion.

Natural Motion
An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the composition that
the object is made of. An object made of material similar to earth will return to earth or an object that
is similar to air will return to the air. For example, a ball mostly resembles the earth so when it is
thrown upward its natural tendency is to go back to Earth, its natural state or the smoke mostly
resembles the air so its natural tendency is to go up the atmosphere.

Violent motion
An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. No motion will take
place unless there is a 'mover' in contact with an object.

Aristotle’s View on Projectile Motion

Aristotle believed that the motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the object's time to fall
back into the ground. An impetus will be kept by the object until such time that the initial force is
forgotten, and the object returns to its natural state to stop moving and fall to the ground.

Example
A cannon is fired which give the cannonball an impetus that will dictate its course until such time that
the impetus is forgotten, and the cannonball will naturally fall to the ground.
What ideas challenged the Aristotelian principle of motion?

Key Points
 According to Aristotle, motion can either be a natural motion or a violent motion.
 An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the composition
that the object is made of. This referred as the natural motion of an object.
 An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. This is
referred as the violent motion of an object.
 The motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the object's time to fall back into the
ground. This is referred as the projectile motion of an object.
Galilean Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion
Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to describe how Galileo used his discoveries in mechanics (and
astronomy) to address scientific objections to the Copernican model.

Why do objects move?

Scientists and philosophers alike have been trying to answer this question even before 300 B.C. One
of the well-known philosophers who attempted to do this was Aristotle. His attempt was based on
inductive-deductive reasoning and was accepted for centuries.
However, Galileo Galilei challenged the Aristotelian view of motion when he had his actual and
thorough experiments. He disagreed with most of Aristotle’s claims and provided his own description
of motion.

Galilean Conceptions vs. Aristotelian Conceptions

According to Aristotle, motion can be either natural or violent motion. In a natural motion, the object
will move and will return to its natural state based on the object's material or composition. In contrast,
an object moving in a violent motion requires an external force (push or pull) for the object to move.
He also had his view on the projectile motion of an object. He believed that an object thrown at a
certain angle is given an impetus—a force or energy that permits an object to move. It will continue
to move in such state until the object’s impetus is lost, and the object returns to its natural state,
causing it to stop and fall to the ground.

Galileo disproved Aristotle’s claims and believed that the motion of objects is not simply due to the
composition of objects. He mentioned that motion can be described by mathematics and the changes
in some physical variables such as time and distance. Using his actual and thorough experiments, he
was able to prove that:

1. an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is proportional to the time it will take to
travel;
2. a uniformly accelerating object will travel at a speed proportional to some factor of time; and
3. an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion; an external force is not
necessary to maintain the motion.
4. Galileo's Conceptions of Motion
5. Horizontal motion
6. An object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion, and an external force is not
necessary to maintain the motion. If the Earth’s surface is very flat and extended infinitely,
objects that are pushed will not be impeded. Thus, the objects will continue to move. This kind
of motion, however, is not evident in nature. For example, if a ball is pushed on an infinitely flat
plane, the ball will continue to roll if unimpeded.
7. Vertical motion
8. In the absence of a resistance, objects would fall not depending on their weight, but in the time
of fall. Also, if the object encountered a resistive force from a fluid equal or greater than its
weight, it will slow down and reaches a uniform motion until it reaches the bottom and stops.
For example, without any resistance, a 1-kg object will be as fast as a 10-kg object when
falling because they fall with the same amount of time, given that they are released from the
same height. Also, a stone dropped in the ocean will sooner or later travel at constant speed.
9. Projectile motion
10. Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal direction
and uniformly accelerated motion in the vertical direction. If it is not impeded, it will continue to
move even without an applied force. For example, when you shoot a ball in a basketball ring,
the ball does not need a force to keep it moving.
Explore!
In a vacuum chamber, a 1-kg object and 10-kg object was dropped at a certain height and at the
same time. Which of the following objects will reach the ground first?

Try it!
Who has a more acceptable view of falling objects, Aristotle or Galileo? Try to test it in the following
activities below. Take note that in every activity, both objects should be dropped at the same time and
at the same height.

1. Drop a book and a flat sheet of paper coming.

2. Drop a book and a sheet of paper crumbled to a ball.
3. Drop a book with a small flat sheet of paper on top of it.

In all three cases, which object reach the ground first? Whose view is more acceptable then, and
why?

Key Points

 Galileo believed that an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is proportional to the
time it took to travel; a uniformly accelerating object will travel with a speed proportional to
some factor of time; and an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion; an
external force is not necessary to maintain the motion.
 Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal direction
and uniformly accelerated motion in the vertical direction.
How Galileo Inferred That Objects in Vacuum Fall with Uniform Acceleration

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to explain how Galileo inferred that objects in vacuum fall with uniform
acceleration.

Recall that a body moving with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant value per unit of time.

Imagine yourself holding a bowling ball and a ping pong ball. If you drop these balls simultaneously, which
ball do you think would have greater acceleration upon reaching the ground? Why?

Galileo proved with his experiments that when objects are dropped simultaneously, they will reach the ground at the
same time regardless of their masses and air resistance. In another set of experiments, he discovered that objects
fall with uniform acceleration.
Galileo was fascinated by the behavior of falling objects. He knew that falling objects increase their speed as they
go down. This change in speed is acceleration. However, he did not have any equipment to measure this change,
so he used inclined planes to lessen the acceleration of the moving bodies. He was then able to investigate the
moving bodies carefully.
On his experiment, he had observed the following:
 A ball rolling down an inclined plane increases its speed by the same value after every second. For
example, the speed of a rolling ball was found to increase by 2 m/s every second. This means that the
rolling ball would have the following speeds for every given second
 As the inclined plane becomes steeper, the acceleration of the rolling ball increases.
 The maximum acceleration of the rolling ball was reached when the inclined plane was positioned vertically
as if the ball is simply falling
These observations lead Galileo to conclude that regardless of the mass of objects and air resistance, falling objects
would always have uniform acceleration.

Example
Hold a book and a piece of paper at the same height, then drop them simultaneously. Did the objects reach the
ground at the same time? If no, which object reached the ground first?

Now, perform the same procedure, but this time, crumple the paper. Did the objects reach the ground at the same
time? If no, which object reached the ground first?

This experiment agrees with Galileo’s findings that when there is little or no air resistance, objects that are dropped
simultaneously will reach the ground at the same time, regardless of their masses. Given that both objects (paper
and book) reached the ground simultaneously, we can infer that the increase in speed of each object is equal.
Therefore, falling objects have the same acceleration when there is no air resistance (e.g. vacuum).

Recall the question at the start of this lesson regarding the bowling and ping pong balls. When these balls are
thrown from the same height and in a vacuum, they will fall at the same acceleration regardless of their masses.

Explore
Given two one peso coins, released at the same time, Coin A is dropped while Coin B is thrown
horizontally coming from the same height. Which one do you think would reach the ground first?

Try it!
If an object falls with an acceleration of 5 m/s2 what would be its speed after 3 s given its starts at 0
m/s at 0s?

What do you think?

If a speedometer is attached to a falling object and the reading increases by 10 m/s every second,
what is the object’s acceleration?

Key Points

 A body with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant value.

 Galileo proved that when objects are released simultaneously from a certain height, they reach
the ground at the same time, regardless of their masses and air resistance.
 Galileo discovered that all objects fall with the uniform acceleration in vacuum.
The Position vs. Time and Velocity vs. Time Graphs of Constant Velocity Motion

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain how the position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs of
constant velocity motion are different from those of constant acceleration motion.

Recall the following terms of the basic quantities that describe motion.

 Distance is the total length or ground covered by an object.

 Displacement is the change in the position of an object or the shortest distance between the initial and the
final position of an object .
 Speed is how fast the object is moving and can be calculated by dividing the total distance by the total time
spent to cover that distance.
 Velocity is how fast and where the object is moving and can be calculated by dividing the displacement of
an object to the time spent.
 Acceleration is the change in the velocity of an object per unit time. An object accelerates when there is a
change in the object’s speed, direction, or both speed and direction.

An object is said to be in motion when its position changes relative to a reference point, usually the ground. The
motion of an object can be described in different ways; it can be described using distance, displacement, speed,
velocity, and acceleration.

Motion can also be presented graphically like the position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs which show the type
of motion an object undergoes in a unit of time.

Position vs. Time Graph of Constant Velocity

A position vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity in a straight path will look like the graph below.

The graph shows that as time goes by, the body changes position by the same amount; hence, it shows a straight
line with a slope slanting to the right. The slope of a position vs time graph represents velocity. If we calculate the
slope of this line, we will get a constant value that corresponds to the velocity of the body.

slope=riserun=△y△x=y2−y1x2−x1

In this graph, the slope at positions 0-2 m is:

slope=y2−y1x2−x1=2m−01s−0=2m/s

While the slope at positions 4-6 m is:

slope=y2−y1x2−x1=6m−4m3s−2s=2m/s

The calculated slopes show the same value which means that the body is moving with constant velocity.

Velocity vs. Time Graph of Constant Velocity

The velocity vs. time time graph of a body moving with constant velocity looks like the graph below.

The graph shows that as time goes by, the body's velocity does not change; hence, the graph is a horizontal line. If
we calculate the slope for this line which corresponds to the body’s acceleration, it will reveal this value:

In this graph, the slope at 2-3 seconds is:

slope=y2−y1x2−x1=2m/s−2m/s3s−2s=0m/s1s=0m/s2

Velocity vs. Time Graph of Constant Acceleration

The velocity vs time graph of a body moving with constant acceleration is shown below.

The graph looks exactly the same with the position vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity but this
one means the opposite. The body in this graph is accelerating with a constant value that can be shown by
calculating its slope.

Slope at positions 2-3 seconds:

slope=y2−y1x2−x1=6m/s−4m/s3s−2s=2m/s1s=2m/s2

Slope at positions 4-5 seconds:

slope=y2−y1x2−x1=10m/s−8m/s5s−4s=2m/s1s=2m/s2

Try it!
Draw the position vs. time and velocity vs. time graph of the following scenario:

You walk 3 m to the kitchen at a velocity of 1 m/s, pause by the sink for 2 s, and walk back to the living room at 1
m/s.

Key Points
 The position vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity is a straight line that slants to the right
and has a constant slope that corresponds to the body’s constant velocity.
 The velocity vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity is a flat line and has a zero slope
which means the body is not accelerating.
 The velocity vs. time graph of a body moving with constant acceleration is a straight line slanting to the
right and has a constant value for its slope which corresponds to the body’s constant acceleration.
Acceleration in Physics

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to recognize that the everyday usage and the physics
usage of the term “acceleration” differ.

When does an object accelerate? Does the term only refer to fast-moving objects?
Acceleration in everyday usage

In everyday terms, acceleration refers to objects which are moving so fast. This is demonstrated in a
speeding race car or a runner who accelerates to finish a short sprint. On the other hand, a race car
that suddenly slows down or a runner who accidentally stumbles is not accelerating.

Acceleration in physics
In physics, an object that moves fast may not be accelerating. Also, an object that moves slowly may
be accelerating.

Acceleration is the rate at which an object’s velocity changes. Velocity is the rate at which an object
changes position. Acceleration indicates how fast an object changes its velocity. Just like velocity, it is
a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction. Magnitude refers to the amount
or size of a quantity. For example, 3 m/s.
An object accelerates when its velocity changes in magnitude, direction, or both magnitude and
direction.

Example
The car in the following situations is accelerating.
A. When the traffic light turned green, the car sped up from 0 km/hr to 20 km/hr.
B. When the driver saw the pedestrian, the car slowed down from 20 km/hr to 0.
C. The driver turned the car to the right while maintaining his speed of 40 km/hr.
In situation A, the car is accelerating because the magnitude of the car’s velocity changed. It
increased from 0 km/hr to 20 km/hr.
In situation B, where the car decreased its velocity from 20 km/hr to 0 is accelerating because there
is a change in the magnitude of its velocity. It accelerates even if it went slower and eventually
stopped.

An object which maintains a constant magnitude of velocity but changes direction is accelerating.
This can be seen in situation C where the driver was initially going 40 km/hr forward and turned 40
km/hr to the right. The car accelerates because there is a change in its velocity’s direction.
An object that goes from 40 km/hr eastward to 20 km/hr southward accelerates because there is a
change in its velocity’s magnitude and direction.
Objects that move in uniform circular motion have constant speeds but still accelerate because
they constantly change in direction as they go around the circular path.
Satellites orbiting the Earth maintain a nearly circular orbit and travel very fast at an almost constant
speed like the International Space Station which moves at approximately 27 000 km/hr. Even though
these satellites have constant speeds, they are accelerating because they constantly change
direction as they move in a circular path around the Earth.

Try it!
Conduct a survey to at least 20 persons about how they perceive acceleration. How many persons
have misconceptions on what acceleration is?

What do you think?

How is an object’s acceleration related to its mass and the force applied to it?

Key Points

 In everyday usage, acceleration refers to fast moving objects such as a speeding race car.
 In physics, acceleration is the rate of change in an object’s velocity.
 An object accelerates when there is a change in its velocity – which means there could either be a change in
its magnitude, direction, or both magnitude and direction.
The Three Laws of Motion

Objective
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to explain each of Newton’s three laws of motion.

The systematical study of motion started way back from the ancient civilizations when they started observing and
predicting the motion of stars, planets, and other celestial bodies. Aristotle stated that motion can be classified as
‘natural’ and ‘violent’ motion.

Natural motion can be observed in nature, such as falling of leaves while violent motion is one that is unnatural
and instigated by other factors. For example, it is natural for a rock to roll down the hill, but in order for the rock to
move up the hill, someone or something must push it upward.

After a couple of millennia, several more scientific studies about motion has been made.

Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 published his book entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) which contains his treatise on motion and the three laws of motion.

The laws of motion are useful ways of thinking about the motion of everyday objects. Though considered as a
scientific law, it still has limitations.

The laws of motion are valid when the objects we are analyzing are not travelling at the speed of light nor the object
is too small.

Inertia

Inertia is the existing state of matter, whether at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless a net external
force is applied to change its state. It is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion.

1st Law: The Law of Inertia

An object at rest or in motion will stay at rest or in motion with constant velocity unless acted upon by a net external
force.

According to this law, an object at rest will remain at rest unless you push or pull them with enough net force.

For instance, when a book is at rest on the table several forces act on it: the downward force exerted by gravity and
the upward or normal force exerted by the table on the book. When we say net force, the sum of all the forces
acting on the object is equal to zero thus, it is at rest or there is no change in its speed. In the case of the book, the
downward and normal force are of the same magnitude but opposite in direction that is why they add up to zero.

The same is true for objects that are moving. If no net force acts on a moving object, then it will neither increase nor
decrease its speed. Therefore, it will continue to move with constant speed in a straight line.

For instance, why do we move forward when the driver steps on the brakes after moving at a constant speed in a
straight line? When the car moves, our body moves with it. Based on the first law, in the absence of a net force, an
object will move at a constant speed. When net external force is applied, in this case, when the driver steps on the
brakes, then there is a change in the velocity of the car; however, because of inertia, our body tends to stay in
motion that is why our body moves forward involuntarily.

On the other hand, when we are on a car that is at rest, our body is also at rest. When a net external force is applied
to the car that starts the car moving, our body tends to stay at rest that is why our body moves backwards
involuntarily.

Inertia and Mass

An object’s inertia depends on its mass. Mass is the amount of matter in an object. It is a quantity that only depends
on the inertia of an object. This implies that heavier objects are harder to move or when it is already moving, it is
hard to stop. Simply put, the greater the mass, the greater the amount of inertia.

2nd Law: The Law of Acceleration

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force exerted on the object and inversely proportional to
the mass of the object.

This can be mathematically expressed as

a=Fm

where
a is the acceleration of an object

F is the force applied on an object

m is the mass of an object

The second law picks up where the first law ends. The law of acceleration describes the change that will happen if a
force is applied on an object. Acceleration is the amount of change in speed and/or direction of movement an
object.

Let’s look at the first part of the law of acceleration:

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force applied on an object.

For instance, the first crate is pushed to the right by a single man which causes it to accelerate. What will happen if
two persons will push the same crate?

Increasing the amount of force applied on an object also increases the acceleration of the object. When a quantity is
in direct proportion to another quantity, there is an increase in the first quantity. In this case, the force applied will
result in the increase of the other quantity, the acceleration of the object.

Now let’s look at the second part of the law of acceleration:

The acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

For instance, when the man pushes the crate to the right, it accelerates to the right. What do you think will happen if
the mass of the crate is doubled?

In this case, increasing the mass of the object makes it harder to accelerate. This is in agreement with the first law
of motion. Therefore, in order to accelerate a heavy object, one must apply a great amount of force. Simply put, the
acceleration of the object will depend on two things: the mass of an object and the force applied on it.

3rd Law: The Law of Action and Reaction

When an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force to the first
object.

Have you ever wondered why you don’t fall when you lean on a post? When you lean on a post you are exerting
force on the post and in return the post exerts force on you, preventing you from falling. The amount of force that the
post exerts on you is the same as the amount of force that you exert on it.

In the interaction of objects, force always comes in pairs. Consider your movement when you are walking. Your feet
is pushing the ground downward, we can label this as the action force. On the other hand, the reaction is provided
by the second object on which the feet is in contact with, and it is equal and opposite to the direction of the reaction
force. Thus, the reaction force is the ground that pushes your feet up, which actually enables you to walk.

Action and reaction do not cancel each other out. Unlike in the first law of motion where the forces act on an object,
these forces are acted on different objects such as the action force acted by your feet to the ground, and the
reaction force acted by the ground to your feet.

Key Points
 Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 published his book entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica which
contains his treatise on motion and the three laws of motion.
 The first law of motion states that an object at rest or in motion will stay at rest or in motion with constant
velocity unless acted upon by a net external force.
 The second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force
exerted on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
 The third law of motion states that when an object exerts a force on another object, the second object
exerts an equal and opposite force to the first object.
Newton’s Law of Inertia vs. Galileo’s Assertion on Horizontal Motion

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain the subtle distinction between Newton’s 1st law of motion (or
Law of Inertia) and Galileo’s assertion that force is not necessary to sustain horizontal motion.

In the previous lesson, you have learned Newton’s laws of motion which provided the framework for the
understanding of how forces and motion are related.

Before Isaac Newton came up with his laws of motion, a lot of scientists have laid the foundation for the study of
force and motion. One of these scientists was Galileo Galilei.

Who was Galileo Galilei? What were his contributions to the concept of inertia?

Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist who first explained the concept of inertia. He observed that when a ball rolls
down an inclined plane, its speed increases; and when it rolls upwards, its speed decreases. This change in speed
was due to gravity.

When the ball rolled down the inclined plane, it was pulled by gravity, so its speed increased. The opposite
happened when the ball rolled up the inclined plane. He then asked himself what would happen to the ball if it was
rolling on a horizontal plane such as the floor.

A ball rolling on the floor is not moving with or against gravity, so what would happen to its speed?

Galileo thought that the ball rolling on a floor would remain moving with constant velocity if the friction between the
floor and ball would be removed.

Galileo tested his theory in an experiment using two inclined planes.

When the ball was rolled from one inclined plane to the next, it almost reached the height from which it was released
as shown in Figure A. If the steepness of the second inclined plane is decreased, the ball would still reach the same
height from the point it was released as shown in Figure B. Finally, he then removed the second inclined plane and
watched the ball as shown in Figure C. He observed the ball and made his conclusion: the ball would continue to
move in a straight line with constant speed.

Galileo asserted that if friction was absent, the ball would continue to move with constant velocity. It would continue
its state of motion unless a push or a pull compels it to change that state. Galileo called this tendency of materials to
resist change in their state of motion as inertia.

His assertion was the inspiration for Newton’s 1st law of motion. They both implied that no force is needed to keep
the motion of an object and the object’s inertia would keep it from changing its state of motion.

Is there a difference between Galileo’s assertion and Newton’s first law of motion?

There is a subtle difference. The difference lies in the concept of force. Galileo knew about friction but did not know
about the concept of force. He used the term 'push and pull' to signify forces. It was Sir Isaac Newton who defined
the concept of force and its relation to motion.

Since there is no gravity in space, will it be easier to lift a sack of rice in space compared here on earth? What does
the law of inertia and Galileo’s assertion tell us about this?

Key Points
 The concept of inertia was a result of Galileo’s studies of motion.
 Inertia refers to the tendency of any material to change its state of motion.
 Galileo asserted that if a rolling ball was ‘left alone’ it will continue to move with constant velocity.
 The only difference between Galileo’s assertion and Newton’s first law of motion is the concept of force.
 Galileo did not know yet the concept of force, and it was Newton who finally explains the nature of forces.
Newton’s Second Law of Motion and Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation: Identical Acceleration

Objective

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to use algebra, Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion, and Newton’s Law of
Universal Gravitation to show that, in the absence of air resistance, objects close to the surface of the Earth fall with
identical accelerations independent of their mass.

Galileo Galilei described free falling bodies or bodies that fall under the sole influence of gravity with an
acceleration of approximately 9.8m/s2 regardless of the bodies’ masses.

How was the acceleration due to gravity g=9.8m/s2 obtained? How do Newton's second law of motion and
law of universal gravitation apply in this case?

Newton's Second law of Motion

In the previous lessons, we have learned that the law of acceleration states that the acceleration of an object is
directly proportional to the force exerted on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

This is known as Newton’s second law of motion where a net force acting on a body (F), with constant mass (m),
causes an acceleration (a) in the direction of the force and can be expressed as a mathematical equation:

F⇀=ma⇀Equation1

This law of motion has been successful in predicting the acceleration of constant-mass systems. It can also be
extended to objects described by Galileo as free falling bodies.

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation

In classical physics, gravity is an attractive force exerted by any object that has mass. It is the force that keeps us
close to the Earth’s surface, and the Earth around the Sun. It also acts to attract anyone and anything to each other
since matter as we know has mass.

In the Book III of Principia Mathematica, Sir Isaac Newton described the behavior of gravity and formulated the law
of universal gravitation which states that the attractive gravitational force (F) between bodies with masses
(m1 and m2) is directly proportional to the product of their masses but inversely proportional to the square of the
distance of the centers of their mass distributions (r). Below shows a simple diagram of the relationships.

The relationship of the gravitational force between two objects can also be expressed as:

F=Gm1m2r2Equation2

where:

F is in newtons, N

m1 and m2 are in kilograms, kg

r is in meters, m

G=6.67×10−11Nm2kg2.

G is the universal gravitation constant that is a proportionality constant used in describing the gravitational force
between two objects.

Acceleration of Free Falling Bodies

Newton's second law of motion and law of universal gravitation can be used to solve for the acceleration of free
falling bodies near the Earth’s surface (a).

Let us assume that a free falling body with a mass mFFB falls freely close to the Earth’s surface. Let us also say
that the Earth is a sphere with a radius rE=6.371×106m and a mass mE=5.9723×1024kg.
Equation 1 can be written as:

F=mFFBa

where:

mFFB is the mass of a freely falling body

Equation 2 can be written as:

F=GmEmFFB(rE+rFFB)2

where:

mE is the mass of the Earth

mFFB is the mass of a freely falling body

rE is the radius of the Earth

rFFB is the radius of a freely falling body

Combining the two equations we get,

mFFBa=GmEmFFB(rE+rFFB)2Equation3

Algebraically, mFFB can be cancelled, resulting to,

a=GmE(rE+rFFB)2Equation4

Since the radius of the Earth, rE is significantly larger than the radius of a freely falling body, then rFFB can be
cancelled out in the total r. Thus,

a=GmErE2Equation5

Equation 5 shows that acceleration only depends on the Earth’s mass and radius, not on the mass of the free
falling body. To get the acceleration of free falling bodies, we substitute the radius and the mass of the Earth and the
gravitational constant in this equation. Thus,

a=[6.67x10−11Nm2kg2][5.9723x1024kg6.371x106m]

a=g≈9.8m/s2

The value of the derived a appears frequently in many computations in classical mechanics; thus, it is assigned to
be g, or the acceleration due to gravity.

Would the value of g increase, decrease, or remain constant if the free falling body is far from the Earth’s surface?

Key Points
 Newton’s second law of motion is expressed as F⇀=ma⇀
 Newton’s law of universal gravitation can be expressed as

F=Gm1m2r2

 In the absence of air resistance, objects close to the surface of the Earth fall at the same rate
of g=9.8m/s2 independent of their mass.