Question
You drop balls of varying mass, foam ball, soccer ball and a bowling ball, from the same height on Earth. Will they reach the Earth at the same time?
Answers
GPT-4o mini
Yes, if you drop a foam ball, a soccer ball, and a bowling ball from the same height in a vacuum (where there is no air resistance), they will reach the ground at the same time regardless of their mass. This is a consequence of the principle of gravitational acceleration, which states that all objects accelerate towards the Earth at the same rate (approximately \(9.81 \text{ m/s}^2\)) when in free fall, assuming no other forces are acting on them (like air resistance).
However, in a real-world scenario on Earth, the presence of air resistance affects lighter objects (like the foam ball) more than heavier ones (like the bowling ball). As a result, in the presence of air, the foam ball may fall more slowly due to its lower mass and higher drag from air resistance, while the soccer ball and bowling ball would reach the ground sooner.
Thus, in a vacuum, they all hit the ground at the same time, but in the real world, the bowling ball and soccer ball would likely reach the ground before the foam ball.
However, in a real-world scenario on Earth, the presence of air resistance affects lighter objects (like the foam ball) more than heavier ones (like the bowling ball). As a result, in the presence of air, the foam ball may fall more slowly due to its lower mass and higher drag from air resistance, while the soccer ball and bowling ball would reach the ground sooner.
Thus, in a vacuum, they all hit the ground at the same time, but in the real world, the bowling ball and soccer ball would likely reach the ground before the foam ball.