As mentioned in Lesson 5, a free-falling object is an object that is falling under the sole influence of gravity.

That is to
say that any object that is moving and being acted upon only be the force of gravity is said to be "in a state of free
fall." Such an object will experience a downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s/s. Whether the object is falling downward or
rising upward towards its peak, if it is under the sole influence of gravity, then its acceleration value is 9.8 m/s/s.

Like any moving object, the motion of an object in free fall can be described by four kinematic equations. The
kinematic equations that describe any object's motion are:

The symbols in the above equation have a specific meaning: the symbol d stands for the displacement; the
symbol t stands for the time; the symbol a stands for the acceleration of the object; the symbol vi stands for
the initial velocity value; and the symbol vf stands for the final velocity.

Applying Free Fall Concepts to Problem-Solving

There are a few conceptual characteristics of free fall motion that will be of value when using the equations to analyze
free fall motion. These concepts are described as follows:

 An object in free fall experiences an acceleration of -9.8 m/s/s. (The - sign indicates a downward acceleration.)
Whether explicitly stated or not, the value of the acceleration in the kinematic equations is -9.8 m/s/s for any freely
falling object.
 If an object is merely dropped (as opposed to being thrown) from an elevated height, then the initial velocity of the
object is 0 m/s.
 If an object is projected upwards in a perfectly vertical direction, then it will slow down as it rises upward. The
instant at which it reaches the peak of its trajectory, its velocity is 0 m/s. This value can be used as one of the
motion parameters in the kinematic equations; for example, the final velocity (vf) after traveling to the peak would
be assigned a value of 0 m/s.
 If an object is projected upwards in a perfectly vertical direction, then the velocity at which it is projected is equal
in magnitude and opposite in sign to the velocity that it has when it returns to the same height. That is, a ball
projected vertically with an upward velocity of +30 m/s will have a downward velocity of -30 m/s when it returns to
the same height.
These four principles and the four kinematic equations can be combined to solve problems involving the motion of free
falling objects. The two examples below illustrate application of free fall principles to kinematic problem-solving. In
each example, the problem solving strategy that was introduced earlier in this lesson will be utilized.

Example Problem A

Luke Autbeloe drops a pile of roof shingles from the top of a roof located 8.52 meters above the ground. Determine
the time required for the shingles to reach the ground.

The solution to this problem begins by the construction of an informative diagram of the physical situation. This is
shown below. The second step involves the identification and listing of known information in variable form. You might
note that in the statement of the problem, there is only one piece of numerical information explicitly stated: 8.52
meters. The displacement (d) of the shingles is -8.52 m. (The - sign indicates that the displacement is downward). The
remaining information must be extracted from the problem statement based upon your understanding of the above
principles. For example, the vivalue can be inferred to be 0 m/s since the shingles are dropped (released from
rest; see note above). And the acceleration (a) of the shingles can be inferred to be -9.8 m/s2 since the shingles are
free-falling (see note above). (Always pay careful attention to the + and - signs for the given quantities.) The next step
of the solution involves the listing of the unknown (or desired) information in variable form. In this case, the problem
requests information about the time of fall. So t is the unknown quantity. The results of the first three steps are shown
in the table below.

Diagram: Given: Find:

vi = 0.0 m/s
d = -8.52 m
t = ??

a = - 9.8 m/s2

The next step involves identifying a kinematic equation that allows you to determine the unknown quantity. There are
four kinematic equations to choose from. In general, you will always choose the equation that contains the three
known and the one unknown variable. In this specific case, the three known variables and the one unknown variable
are d, vi, a, and t. Thus, you will look for an equation that has these four variables listed in it. An inspection of the four
equations above reveals that the equation on the top left contains all four variables.

d = v i • t + ½ • a • t2
Once the equation is identified and written down, the next step involves substituting known values into the equation
and using proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown information. This step is shown below.

-8.52 m = (0 m/s) • (t) + ½ • (-9.8 m/s2) • (t)2

-8.52 m = (0 m) *(t) + (-4.9 m/s2) • (t)2

-8.52 m = (-4.9 m/s2) • (t)2

(-8.52 m)/(-4.9 m/s2) = t2

1.739 s2 = t2

t = 1.32 s

The solution above reveals that the shingles will fall for a time of 1.32 seconds before hitting the ground. (Note that
this value is rounded to the third digit.)

The last step of the problem-solving strategy involves checking the answer to assure that it is both reasonable and
accurate. The value seems reasonable enough. The shingles are falling a distance of approximately 10 yards (1 meter
is pretty close to 1 yard); it seems that an answer between 1 and 2 seconds would be highly reasonable. The
calculated time easily falls within this range of reasonability. Checking for accuracy involves substituting the calculated
value back into the equation for time and insuring that the left side of the equation is equal to the right side of the
equation. Indeed it is!

Example Problem B

Rex Things throws his mother's crystal vase vertically upwards with an initial velocity of 26.2 m/s. Determine the
height to which the vase will rise above its initial height.

Once more, the solution to this problem begins by the construction of an informative diagram of the physical situation.
This is shown below. The second step involves the identification and listing of known information in variable form. You
might note that in the statement of the problem, there is only one piece of numerical information explicitly stated: 26.2
m/s. The initial velocity (vi) of the vase is +26.2 m/s. (The + sign indicates that the initial velocity is an upwards
velocity). The remaining information must be extracted from the problem statement based upon your understanding
of the above principles. Note that the vfvalue can be inferred to be 0 m/s since the final state of the vase is the peak of
its trajectory (see note above). The acceleration (a) of the vase is -9.8 m/s2 (see note above). The next step involves
the listing of the unknown (or desired) information in variable form. In this case, the problem requests information
about the displacement of the vase (the height to which it rises above its starting height). So d is the unknown
information. The results of the first three steps are shown in the table below.

Diagram: Given: Find:

vi = 26.2 m/s
vf = 0 m/s
d = ??

a = -9.8 m/s2

The next step involves identifying a kinematic equation that would allow you to determine the unknown quantity. There
are four kinematic equations to choose from. Again, you will always search for an equation that contains the three
known variables and the one unknown variable. In this specific case, the three known variables and the one unknown
variable are vi, vf, a, and d. An inspection of the four equations above reveals that the equation on the top right
contains all four variables.

vf2 = vi2 + 2 • a • d

Once the equation is identified and written down, the next step involves substituting known values into the equation
and using proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown information. This step is shown below.

(0 m/s)2 = (26.2 m/s)2 + 2 •(-9.8m/s2) •d

0 m2/s2 = 686.44 m2/s2 + (-19.6 m/s2) •d

(-19.6 m/s2) • d = 0 m2/s2 -686.44 m2/s2

(-19.6 m/s2) • d = -686.44 m2/s2

d = (-686.44 m2/s2)/ (-19.6 m/s2)

d = 35.0 m

The solution above reveals that the vase will travel upwards for a displacement of 35.0 meters before reaching its
peak. (Note that this value is rounded to the third digit.)

The last step of the problem-solving strategy involves checking the answer to assure that it is both reasonable and
accurate. The value seems reasonable enough. The vase is thrown with a speed of approximately 50 mi/hr (merely
approximate 1 m/s to be equivalent to 2 mi/hr). Such a throw will never make it further than one football field in height
(approximately 100 m), yet will surely make it past the 10-yard line (approximately 10 meters). The calculated answer
certainly falls within this range of reasonability. Checking for accuracy involves substituting the calculated value back
into the equation for displacement and insuring that the left side of the equation is equal to the right side of the
equation. Indeed it is!

Kinematic equations provide a useful means of determining the value of an unknown motion parameter if three motion
parameters are known. In the case of a free-fall motion, the acceleration is often known. And in many cases, another
motion parameter can be inferred through a solid knowledge of some basic kinematic principles. The next part of
Lesson 6 provides a wealth of practice problems with answers and solutions.
 Free Fall with Examples
FREE FALL

Free fall is a kind of motion that everybody can observe in daily life.

We drop something accidentally or purposely and see its motion. At the

beginning it has low speed and until the end it gains speed and before

the crash it reaches its maximum speed. Which factors affect the speed

of the object while it is in free fall? How can we calculate the distance it

takes, time it takes during the free fall? We deal with these subjects in

this section. First, let me begin with the source of increasing in the

amount of speed during the fall. As you can guess, things fall because

of the gravity. Thus, our objects gain speed approximately10m/s in a

second while falling because of the gravitation. We call this acceleration in physics gravitational accelerationand

show with “g”. The value of g is 9,8m/s² however, in our examples we assume it 10 m/ s² for simple calculations. Now

it’s time to formulize what we said above. We talked about the increase in speed which is equal to the amount of g in

a second. Thus our velocity can be found by the formula;

V=g.t where g is gravitational acceleration and t is the time.

Look at the given example below and try to understand what I tried to explain above.

Example The boy drops the ball from a roof of the house which takes 3 seconds to hit the ground. Calculate the velocity
before the ball crashes to the ground. (g=10m/s²)

Velocity is;

V=g.t

V=10m/ s².3s=30m/s

We have learned how to find the velocity of the

object at a given time. Now we will learn how to find

the distance taken during the motion. I give some

equations to calculate distance and other

quantities. Galileo found an equation for

distance from his experiments.

This equation is;

I think the formula now a little bit clearer in your mind. We will solve more problems related to this topic. Now, think that if I

throw the ball straight upward with an initial velocity. When it stops and falls back to the ground? We answer these

questions now.

Picture shows the magnitudes of velocity at the bottom and at

the top. As you can see the ball is thrown upward with an initial v

velocity, at the top it’s velocity becomes zero and it changes it’s

direction and starts to fall down which is free fall. Finally at the

bottom before the crash it reaches its maximum speed which

shown as V’. We have talked about the amount of increase in the

velocity in free fall. It increases 9,8m/s in each second due to the

gravitational acceleration. In this case, there is also g but the ball’s

direction is upward; so the sign of g is negative. Thus, our velocity

decreases in 9,8m/s in each second until the velocity becomes

zero. At the top, because of the zero velocity, the ball changes its direction and starts to free fall. Before solving

problems I want to give the graphs of free fall motion.

As you see in the

graphs our velocity is

linearly increases with an

acceleration “g”, second

graphs tells us that

acceleration is constant

at 9,8m/s², and finally third graphic is the representation of change in our position. At the beginning we have a positive

displacement and as the time passes it decreases and finally becomes zero. Now we can solve problems using these

graphs and explanations.

(g=10m/s²)

Example An object does free fall motion. It hits the ground after 4 seconds. Calculate the velocity of the object after 3
seconds and before it hits the ground. What can be the height it is thrown?

Two examples given above try to show how to

use free fall equations. We can find the

velocity, distance and time from the given data. Now, I will give three more equations and finishes 1D Kinematics

subject. The equations are;

calculating the distance of the object having initial velocity and acceleration. Third and last equation is timeless

velocity equation. If distance, initial velocity and acceleration of the object is known then you can find the final velocity

of the object. Now let’s solve some problems using these equations to comprehend the subject in detail.

Example Calculate the velocity of the car which has initial velocity 24m/s and acceleration 3m/s² after 15 second.

We use the first equation to solve this question.

Example The car which is initially at rest has an acceleration 7m/s² and travels 20 seconds. Find the distance it covers
during this period.