Question

A science class is planning an investigation about gravity and objects on Earth. In three to four sentences, explain the steps the class should take to provide data to help them make a conclusion about the effect of gravity on objects of different masses.

Answer 1

Choose several objects with different masses (and preferably similar shapes/sizes to reduce air resistance) and mark a fixed drop height. For each object, release it without pushing from that height and measure the fall time using a stopwatch or, better, a motion sensor; perform at least three trials per object. Record times, compute averages and if desired calculate acceleration from g = 2h/t² for each object. Plot mass versus average time or versus calculated g and analyze whether variations are systematic to draw a conclusion about how mass affects gravitational acceleration.