as

Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Free Fall Tower

Vocabulary: accelerate, air resistance, free fall, gravity, terminal velocity, vacuum

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Patty climbs a tree. While sitting on a branch, she drops a leaf and an acorn at the same

the acorn would hit the

time. What would happen? ___________________________________________________

ground first
_________________________________________________________________________

2. Patty decides to try another experiment. From the same branch, she drops a large, heavy

they'd hit
rock and a small pebble. What would happen this time? ____________________________

at the same time

_________________________________________________________________________
the ground
Gizmo Warm-up
In the Free Fall Tower Gizmo™, drag a pair of objects (no parachutes)
to the top of the tower, one to each platform. Check that Air is selected.

Click Play ( ). The objects are now in free fall, pulled to Earth by the
force of gravity.

ball
1. What did you drop? __________________
soccer golfball
__________________

2.
NO
Did the objects fall at the same rate? ________________________

golf ball
3. Which object fell faster? __________________________________

4. Click Reset ( ). Drop each possible combination of objects without parachutes.

watermelon
A. Which object fell fastest? _________________ ball
Slowest? _________________
pong
ping
B.
Becauseofthe
Why do you think some objects fall faster than others? _______________________

___________________________________________________________________
air resistinggravity
___________________________________________________________________

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
Click Reset.
Free fall in a
Under Choose atmosphere, select Vacuum (no
vacuum
air).

Question: A vacuum is a region with no air or any other matter. How do different objects
fall through a vacuum?

1. Form hypothesis: How do you think objects will fall when there is no air? _______________
there is no air, then both objects will land at the same time, because there isn’t gravity.
_________________________________________________________________________

2. Experiment: Drop the different objects from the top of the tower. What do you notice?
They both hit the ground at the same time.
_________________________________________________________________________

3. Observe: Click Reset. Drop the watermelon and the ping pong ball from the top of the tower.
Watch the speedometers. They show each object’s speed in meters per second (m/s).

the speed is the same

A. What do you notice? __________________________________________________

2.86 MIS
B. What is the final speed of each object? ___________________________________

C. An object is accelerating if its speed is changing. What can you say about the

acceleration of objects
acceleration of objects falling in a vacuum? ________________________________
the
___________________________________________________________________
whenthere is no air constant
4. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. The graph shows the speeds of the objects over time.

graphs are
tie the same
A. What do the lines on the graph look like? __________________________________

B. What does that tell you? the

speedswere increasing at aconstantrate
_______________________________________________

5. Extend your thinking: In 1971, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a
feather on the Moon, which has no air. What do you think happened? Explain your answer.

they would both hit the ground at the

_________________________________________________________________________
same
time because of the lack ofgravity
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
(If you are on a computer, click here to see a video of this experiment.)

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Air Resistance Click Reset.
Under Choose atmosphere, select Air.

Question: How does air affect falling objects?

1. Observe: In Air, drop the objects from different levels of the tower. Look carefully at the
speedometers as the objects drop. What do you notice?

thespeedof the objectsdecreases

_________________________________________________________________________

2. Form hypothesis: When objects fall through the air, they are pushed by a force called air
resistance. How do you think air resistance affects falling objects?

If_________________________________________________________________________
an object falls through the air, then the speed decreases as it falls, because air resistance is an
upwards force fighting gravity

3. Experiment: Each platform on the tower is 5 meters higher than the one below it. Drop the
ping pong ball from the lowest (5 meter) platform, then the next platform (10 m) and so on.
For each height, record the final speed of the ping pong ball in meters per second (m/s).

Height 5m 10 m 15 m 20 m 25 m 30 m 35 m 40 m

27
Speed
233 828 858 855 85g 87s 8mg
4. Analyze: As an object falls through air, the object does not get steadily faster but
approaches Terminal Velocity.

G SS MIS
A. What is the terminal velocity of the ping pong ball? ___________________________

B. Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show terminal velocity? _____________

the graph flattens

___________________________________________________________________

5. Compare: Drop the soccer ball and the golf ball from the top of the tower. Which ball was

soccer ball
slowed down more by air resistance? ___________________________________________

6. Extend your thinking: A soccer ball is heavier than a golf ball. Why do you think the soccer
ball fell more slowly than the golf ball?

_________________________________________________________________________
On objects of greater surface area, air resistance is stronger. Therefore, the golf ball
_________________________________________________________________________
fell faster than the soccer ball.

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Parachutes Click Reset.
Check that Air is still selected.

Question: How does a parachute affect a falling object?

1. Observe: Drag objects with parachutes to the tower. (Parachutes look like little backpacks.)
As the objects drop, click Open parachute(s). Compare how parachutes affect each object.

2. Form hypothesis: How will a parachute change the air resistance and terminal velocity of an
The air resistance will be greater so the terminal velocity will be lesser.
object? ___________________________________________________________________

3. Collect data: Find the terminal velocity of each object when the parachute is open.

Ping pong ball with parachute: ___________ Soccer ball with parachute: _____________
0.99ms 5.46ms
2.30 my
Golf ball with parachute: ________________ Watermelon with parachute: ____________
14.93ms

4. Analyze: The watermelon is heaviest, followed by the soccer ball, golf ball and ping pong
ball. How does the weight of an object relate to how fast it falls with a parachute?
The heavier the object, the greater the number of its terminal velocity.
_________________________________________________________________________

5. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show when the parachute is opened?
The velocity suddenly drops and stays constant until it hits the
_________________________________________________________________________
ground

Because
6. Predict: Will a parachute work in a vacuum? _________ Why or why not? ______________
NO
theparachuteworks air resistance
_________________________________________________________________________
by feeding into
NO
7. Test: Use the Gizmo to test your prediction. Did the parachute work? __________________

8. Summarize: What controls how fast an object falls? ________________________________

All objects have the same falling velocity and acceleration. With air, air
_________________________________________________________________________
resistance determined by an object’s surface area affects its falling
speed. In a vacuum, nothing impacts the falling speed.
_________________________________________________________________________

2019