3. An astronaut drops a hammer and a feather from the same height on a planet without air. How will their falls compare?

Question

The objects will fall at the same time because gravity will have the same affect on them.
• The feather will fall faster because it has less mass, allowing it to speed up more easily than the hammer.
• The hammer will fall faster because gravity is pulling it down with a greater force than it is pulling the feather.
The objects will fall at the same time because gravity is not acting on them, so they will be affected the same.

Answer 1

The objects will fall at the same time because gravity is not acting on them, so they will be affected the same. On a planet without air, there is no air resistance to slow down the feather, allowing it to fall at the same rate as the hammer. This is commonly demonstrated in a vacuum chamber experiment, where objects of different masses fall at the same rate in the absence of air resistance.