Non-Simultaneous Drop of Objects
Country: South Africa
Date: Summer 2011
At school, my teacher and I are having a debate about a
question that was asked recently. It goes as follows: Two identical
objects are dropped 1 second apart in a vacuum does the distance
between them: A: Remain the same B: Increase C: Decrease I believe
that the distance will increase, but she is extremely confident that
it will in fact remain the same. Would you please give me an
explanation? Thanks so much. Sky
You are right Sky.
To convince your teacher you should prepare a spreadsheet table that is
based on the equation s = 1/2 a * t^2.
In the equation s is the distance a object would travel with an
acceleration a (earth's gravity effect of 32 ft / sec^2) and t is the time.
Your table should show the time for each object falling, with one
object starting one second behind. At each second interval compute and
compare the distance s. The table will clearly show you are correct.
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Update: June 2012