FORM 4

FREE FALL to

in love with

PHYSICS
BY: PHYSICS & MATHEMATICS TEAM
CLASS: FORM 4 SUBJECT: PHYSICS DATE: DECEMBER 2023

TOPIC: 2.3) FREE FALL MOTION

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, students are able to:

Explain free fall motion and gravitational acceleration by providing
examples.

Determine the value of gravitional acceleration by conducting an

experiment.

Solve problems involving the Earth’s gravitational acceleration for

objects in free fall.
 LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Qualitative explanation on the
motion of an object falling in a
uniform gravitational field.
2. Watch a video on free fall motion.
3. Carry out an activity for an object
falling with and without air
resistance.
4. Use photogates to determine
gravitational accelerations, g.
Compare the experimental and
theoretical value of g.
MATERIALS
1. Textbook and short notes.
2. Objects with different mass
(paper and eraser)
3. Videos from YouTube.
4. Photogate system and electronic
timer, electromagnetic release,
steel ball and container to catch
steel ball released.
 2.3 Free Fall Motion

LEARNING OBJECTIVE
At the end of the lesson, students are able to:

2.3.1 Explain free fall motion and gravitational acceleration by

providing examples.

2.3.2 Determine the value of gravitational acceleration by

conducting an experiment.

2.3.3 Solve problems involving the Earth’s gravitational

acceleration for objects in free fall.
 FREE FALLING

A motion under force of gravity as the only

force acting on the moving object
Free falling object does not experience the
action of other forces

Video on
free fall

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY:
Show an object falling with and without air resistance. Use objects
such as crumpled paper and eraser
 Feather Metal ball Feather Metal ball

Video on
object falls in
Motion of falling objects in air. Motion of falling objects in vacuum.
different
condition

In daily life, heavier object seems to reach the

ground faster due to the presence of other forces
such as air resistance
 Gravitational accelaration

Gravitational acceleration of an object is due to the

pull of the gravitaional force with the unit of ms^-2
Gravitational acceleration does not depend on the
mass of the moving object.
The magnitude of gravitational acceleration is
10ms^-2
Acceleration due
to gravity

DETERMINING THE VALUE OF GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION

The value of gravitational acceleration can determined by:
Measuring the acceleration of heavy object such as steel ball in a
physics laboratory.
A photogate system and an electronic timer.
 EXPERIMENT AIM: conduct PHOTOGATE EXPERIMENT to determine
the value of Earth’s gravitational acceleration, g.

1 3 PROCEDURES
COMPARE
The experimental
APPARATUS & theoretical value
(1) Place the second (2) Ensure the steel of gravitational
A steel ball,
photogate to the ball can fall through acceleration, g
electromagnetic release,
distance of 30m away both photogates into
two photogates,
from the first the container.
electronic timer, tripod
photogate.
stand and container to (3) Release the steel
catch steel ball released. ball from the
electromagnetic
Calculate the value of g
release. using following formula:

(4) Record the time

when the steel ball
2 passing through the first
photogate as t1 and the
EXPERIMENTAL
second photogate as t2
SETUP
in Table.
(5) Repeat steps 1 to 4 CALCULATION & DATA
with distances 40cm, COLLECTION
50cm, 60cm and 70cm. 4
The value of gravitational acceleration,
g changes from one place to another.
For example:
The value at the equator=9.78ms^-2
The value at the Earth’s
pole=9.83ms^-2.
This happens due to the shape of
the Earth is actually not perfect.
SOLVE PROBLEMS INVOLVING FREE
FALLING OBJECT
FORMULA
v = u + at
s = ut + ½at²
Choose the formula
that needed to be v² = u² + 2as
used wisely!

1. Object falls: a = -g = -10m/s²

2. Object thrown upward: a = -g = -10m/s²
3. At the highest position: v = 0m/s
4. Falls downward: v is negative.
5. Thrown upward, v is positive.
 FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Learning objective: Students are able to apply free fall motion and gravititional
acceleration concept from example provided

1. A feather, a coin and marble was 2. How would acceleration-time graph

dropped simultaneously in a vacuum. looks like when a coconut falls from a
Which object will lands first? tree?

A. B.

C. D.
A. All three objects
B. Coin and feather
C. Coin and marble
D. Marble and feather
 Learning objective: Students are able to solve problems involving the Earth’s
gravitational acceleration for objects in free fall using:

3. A brick falls from a height of 10m. 4. What is the velocity of an object that
Calculate time taken for the brick to has been falling freely in a vacuum for 2
reach the ground. seconds?
A. 0.5s A. 10 m/s
B. 0.7s B. 20 m/s
C. 1.0s C. 30 m/s
D. 1.4s D. 40 m/s

CALCULATION:
 Learning objective 1: Students are able to explain the concept of free fall motion.

1. A golf ball and a piece of paper are held at the same height and
dropped simultaneously.

a) Which object will hit the floor first? Why?

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b) Repeat the experiment with a golf ball and a piece of crumpled paper.
Which object will hit the floor first? Why?
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2.Diagram shows a stroboscope photo of a ball falling freely and velocity
against time graph and its motion.

a) Observe the photo. Explain the velocity of the ball.

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b) What can you deduce from the gradient of graph v-t?

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c) Explain the motion of the ball.

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Learning objective 2: Student are able to determine the value of gravitational
acceleration by conducting the experiment.

1. What is the type of motion if it falls under attraction of gravity?

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2. Compare the value of acceleration due to gravity from the activity

to the actual value. Give a reasonable reason for the difference
between the two values.
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