Name: ______________Sheena Chang______________ Date: ______09/16/2020______

Student Exploration: Free Fall Tower

Vocabulary: accelerate, air resistance, free fall, gravity, terminal velocity, vacuum

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Patty climbs a tree. While sitting on a branch, she drops a leaf and an acorn at the same

time. What would happen?

Due to the air resistance, the leaf will slowly flow down whereas the acorn will quickly fall

down.

2. Patty decides to try another experiment. From the same branch, she drops a large, heavy

rock and a small pebble. What would happen this time?

Two objects will quickly fall down at the same rate.

Gizmo Warm-up
In the Free Fall Tower Gizmo™, drag a pair of objects (no parachutes)
to the top of the tower, one to each platform. Check that Air is selected.

Click Play ( ). The objects are now in free fall, pulled to Earth by the
force of gravity.

1. What did you drop? A watermelon A soccer.

2. Did the objects fall at the same rate? No

3. Which object fell faster? The watermelon fell faster

4. Click Reset ( ). Drop each possible combination of objects without parachutes.

A. Which object fell fastest? Watermelon Slowest? Ping Pong ball

B. Why do you think some objects fall faster than others?

It’s due to the air resistance, The greater the surface area, the greater the number
of air particles hit the object and the greater the overall resistance.

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
 Click Reset.
Free fall in a
 Under Choose atmosphere, select Vacuum (no
vacuum
air).

Question: A vacuum is a region with no air or any other matter. How do different objects
fall through a vacuum?

1. Form hypothesis: How do you think objects will fall when there is no air?

All objects will fall at the same rate.

2. Experiment: Drop the different objects from the top of the tower. What do you notice?

They all fall to the ground at the same time.

3. Observe: Click Reset. Drop the watermelon and the ping pong ball from the top of the tower.
Watch the speedometers. They show each object’s speed in meters per second (m/s).

A. What do you notice? Their velocities have the same acceleration.

B. What is the final speed of each object? 28.06 m/s

C. An object is accelerating if its speed is changing. What can you say about the

acceleration of objects falling in a vacuum?

The acceleration of all objects is 9.8 m/s/s

4. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. The graph shows the speeds of the objects over time.

A. What do the lines on the graph look like?

The two lines completely overlapped, and it’s an increasing straight line

B. What does that tell you?

In a vacuum, all objects have the same falling speed and acceleration.

5. Extend your thinking: In 1971, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a
feather on the Moon, which has no air. What do you think happened? Explain your answer.

The two objects should fall at the same time since there is no air and air resistance wouldn’t
affect the falling speed of objects.

(If you are on a computer, click here to see a video of this experiment.)

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
 Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Air Resistance  Click Reset.
 Under Choose atmosphere, select Air.

Question: How does air affect falling objects?

1. Observe: In Air, drop the objects from different levels of the tower. Look carefully at the
speedometers as the objects drop. What do you notice?

the object dropped from the higher position start decelerate faster than the object dropped
from the lower position.

2. Form hypothesis: When objects fall through the air, they are pushed by a force called air
resistance. How do you think air resistance affects falling objects?

Larger surface area would cause more air resistance.

3. Experiment: Each platform on the tower is 5 meters higher than the one below it. Drop the
ping pong ball from the lowest (5 meter) platform, then the next platform (10 m) and so on.
For each height, record the final speed of the ping pong ball in meters per second (m/s).

Height 5m 10 m 15 m 20 m 25 m 30 m 35 m 40 m
Speed
7.32 8.25 8.47 8.53 8.55 8.55 8.55 8.55
(m/s)

4. Analyze: As an object falls through air, the object does not get steadily faster but
approaches Terminal Velocity.

A. What is the terminal velocity of the ping pong ball? 8.55 m/s

B. Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show terminal velocity?

After it reaches the terminal velocity, its velocity stops increasing.

5. Compare: Drop the soccer ball and the golf ball from the top of the tower. Which ball was

slowed down more by air resistance? The Soccer ball.

6. Extend your thinking: A soccer ball is heavier than a golf ball. Why do you think the soccer
ball fell more slowly than the golf ball?

2019
 it’s because air resistance isn’t affected by mass, it’s depends on the object’s surface area

instead. The soccer ball has a larger surface area, and thus causing it to fall more slowly

than the golf ball.

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity C:
 Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Parachutes  Click Reset.
 Check that Air is still selected.

Question: How does a parachute affect a falling object?

1. Observe: Drag objects with parachutes to the tower. (Parachutes look like little backpacks.)
As the objects drop, click Open parachute(s). Compare how parachutes affect each object.

2. Form hypothesis: How will a parachute change the air resistance and terminal velocity of an

object?

Parachute significantly slow down the dropping speed and the terminal velocity of the object,

but it makes the speed stable and consistent.

3. Collect data: Find the terminal velocity of each object when the parachute is open.

Ping pong ball with parachute: 0.55 m/s Soccer ball with parachute: 5.46 m/s

Golf ball with parachute: 2.3 m/s Watermelon with parachute: 14.93m/s

4. Analyze: The watermelon is heaviest, followed by the soccer ball, golf ball and ping pong
ball. How does the weight of an object relate to how fast it falls with a parachute?

The heavier an object, the greater the number of the terminal velocity of an object is.

5. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show when the parachute is opened?

The velocity suddenly slows down to its terminal velocity by the time I opened the
parachute, and it remained the same until it hit the ground.

6. Predict: Will a parachute work in a vacuum? No Why or why not? Because the way
parachute works is by air resistance; yet in a vacuum, there’s no air, so the parachute won’t
work without air resistance.

2019
7. Test: Use the Gizmo to test your prediction. Did the parachute work? No

8. Summarize: What controls how fast an object falls?

With the presence of air, the surface area of an object affects the air resistance, which
influences the falling speed of an object. In a vacuum, nothing affects the falling speed of an
object. All objects have the same falling velocity and acceleration.

2019