Name: Delia Smith Date: 10-1-21

Student Exploration: Free Fall Tower

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

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 The acorn has much less friction, and the acorn
drops a leaf and an acorn at the same time. What hits the ground first.
would happen?

2. Patty decides to try another experiment. From the Two objects will quickly fall down at the same
same branch, she drops a large, heavy rock and a rate.
small pebble. What would happen this time?

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? Watermelon and Soccer ball

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

3. Which object fell faster? Watermelon

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

parachutes.

A. Which object fell fastest? Watermelon (2.97) Slowest? Ping pong ball (5.29)

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

Since other objects are more dense than others it matters about air resistance.

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 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 They’ll go faster because there’s not anything
when there is no air? stopping it’s speed. I also think all of the objects
will drop at the same time.

2. Experiment: Drop the different objects from the top I notice that all of the objects are falling at the
of the tower. What do you notice? same time no matter their density.

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? I notice that they're going faster but having the same
exact time as one another. They fall at the same
rate every time.

B. What is the final speed of each object? 2.86

C. An object is accelerating if its speed is changing. What can you say about the acceleration of
objects falling in a vacuum?

That it is not speed changing because all objects have the same speed no matter mass or
density. Though the object don’t automatically go to a speed throughout the drop it gets higher
and higher.

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? A horizontal line on a speed/time graph represents a
steady speed. It can represent acceleration. The
lines on the graph look like a regular line graph you
use for math.

B. What does that tell you? The graph tells me an accurate time and speed that
helps with experiments.

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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.

On earth the feather would drop faster because of air resistance but on the moon there’s a vacuum
which makes objects fall at the same time even despite how bizarre a hammer and a feather seems.

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

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 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 objects drop quicker because hen selected air more gravity comes which makes the objects
fall regular instead of irregular like they did with no air (vacuum).

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?

With air resistance acceleration throughout an object dropping from somewhere gets less than
gravity because, air resistance affects the movement of the falling object by slowing it down.

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 1.13 1.77 2.36 2.95 3.53 4.12 4.70 5.29

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 8 meters per second.

pong ball?

B. Select the GRAPH tab. How does the It shows the speed it’s dropped at and represents a
graph show terminal velocity? number on the bottom which indicates the terminal
velocity. On different objects it shows a different line
shape of its steadiness.

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 speed of the soccer ball was 3.72, the speed of the golf ball was 3.03. The soccer ball was
affected by air resistance more than the golf 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?

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 The soccer ball fell more slowly because it had more air in it. Making it have an air resistance at a
lower speed.

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?

Parachutes collect air as it’s falling creating speeds to go slower. For example, with parachuting
you are launched out of a plane at full speed once the parachute is let out you start to go slower
due to the fact the air resistance increases.

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

Ping pong ball with parachute: 9 m/s Soccer ball with parachute: 15 m/s

Golf ball with parachute: 24 m/s Watermelon with parachute: 25 m/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?

It doesn’t really relate, the heavier the load the parachute must be moving faster to match the
downward force of the greater load.

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

On the graph when parachute is opened it does not show up on the graph.

6. Predict:
Will a parachute work in a vacuum? I feel the parachute won’t work.

Why or why not? When I first did it without the parachute all of the speeds
were the same. And since there is no air the parachute

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 cannot be collected or slowed down with air.

7. Test: Use the Gizmo to test your prediction.

Did the parachute work? No

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

How fast something falls due to gravity is determined by acceleration of gravity.

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