If a 25 pound ball is dropped from 20 feet at the same time as a 15 pound ball is dropped from 10 feet, will the 25 pound ball catch up to the 15 pound ball?
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Qmechanic
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Homework? If so then the question should be tagged as such. – Solomon Slow Jun 07 '17 at 17:39
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no this is not homework, I just want to know – Megan Rollins Jun 07 '17 at 17:48
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What do you think will happen and what is your reasoning? Right now it appears to be a homework-type problem, not conceptual. Look in the "help" section (top right, by the search window) and find out how to ask a good question, if this is genuinely a curiosity question. – Bill N Jun 07 '17 at 18:35
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1Possible duplicates: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/11321/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/3534/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Jun 08 '17 at 03:31
3 Answers
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Provided there is no air resistance the heavy ball will not catch up as both the balls have the same acceleration due to gravity which is around 9.81 m/s^2 thus the ball falling from smaller height will land first. The second ball will already have fallen to the ground when the heavier ball has reached the initial position of the second ball.
Tausif Hossain
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You're welcome, please verify the answer if you're satisfied with it . – Tausif Hossain Jun 07 '17 at 17:55
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No. The acceleration due to gravity of both balls is the same (neglecting air resistance). Although the heavier ball does exert a larger gravitational force on the Earth and vice versa (from $F=\frac{GMm}{r^2}$), the mass term cancels out in the equation for the acceleration as $ma=\frac{GMm}{r^2}$ and hence the acceleration is independent of the mass of the object.
EigenFunction
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Free fall does not depend on masses of bodies. So, it is irrelevant whether the ball weight 25 pounds or 15 pounds.
Acceleration=g for both those cases, therefore, the ball closer to earth,i.e. 15 pound ball will land first.
Arishta
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