1. The strength of gravity between two objects depends on these 2 factors:

Question

1. The strength of gravity between two objects depends on these 2 factors:
A) Weight of the objects
B) Mass of the objects
C) Melting Point of the objects
D) Distance between the objects
E) Volume of the objects

2. During a football game, a student accidentally knocks similar gym bags, one empty and one full of shoes and clothes, off the back of the bleachers. If there is no air resistance, which bag will hit the ground first?

a
The empty bag will hit the ground first.
 b
The full bag will hit the ground first.
 c
They will both hit the ground at the same time.
 d
This cannot be determined because the dimensions of the bags are needed.

3. Describe why a bowling ball and a baseball dropped off of a cliff at the same time would land at different times, but they would land at the same time in a vacuum.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

1. The strength of gravity between two objects depends on these 2 factors:

A) Weight of the objects
B) Mass of the objects
C) Melting Point of the objects
D) Distance between the objects
E) Volume of the objects

2. During a football game, a student accidentally knocks similar gym bags, one empty and one full of shoes and clothes, off the back of the bleachers. If there is no air resistance, which bag will hit the ground first?

a
The empty bag will hit the ground first.
b
The full bag will hit the ground first.
c
They will both hit the ground at the same time.
d
This cannot be determined because the dimensions of the bags are needed.

3. Describe why a bowling ball and a baseball dropped off of a cliff at the same time would land at different times, but they would land at the same time in a vacuum.

1 answer

The strength of gravity between two objects depends on these 2 factors:
- B) Mass of the objects
- D) Distance between the objects
The gravitational force between two objects is described by Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that the force of gravity is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
During a football game, a student accidentally knocks similar gym bags, one empty and one full of shoes and clothes, off the back of the bleachers. If there is no air resistance, which bag will hit the ground first?
- c) They will both hit the ground at the same time.
In the absence of air resistance, all objects fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. This is a consequence of the equivalence principle, which states that gravitational mass and inertial mass are equivalent.
Describe why a bowling ball and a baseball dropped off of a cliff at the same time would land at different times, but they would land at the same time in a vacuum.

When dropped from a height, a bowling ball and a baseball will likely land at different times in the presence of air because air resistance affects the two objects differently due to their size, shape, and mass. The bowling ball, being heavier and with a more compact shape, will experience less relative air resistance compared to the lighter and more aerodynamically affected baseball. This means that the bowling ball will reach the ground first when air resistance is present.

In a vacuum, however, there is no air resistance to affect the fall of the two objects. As a result, both the bowling ball and the baseball would fall solely under the influence of gravity and would hit the ground at the same time, illustrating that the acceleration due to gravity is constant for all objects in free fall, regardless of their mass.