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How Does Gravity Affect the Acceleration of Falling Objects?

Published in Gravitational Acceleration 2 mins read

Gravity directly causes the acceleration of falling objects by exerting a force that increases their speed over time.

When an object falls towards Earth, it does so because of gravity. Gravity is a fundamental force that pulls objects with mass towards each other. For objects near the Earth's surface, this means the Earth pulls them downwards.

The Role of Gravity in Acceleration

According to the principles of physics, when an object experiences a force, it accelerates. In the case of falling objects, the force is gravity.

  • Gravity Exerts a Force: The Earth's gravitational pull creates a force on any object above its surface.
  • Force Causes Acceleration: This force causes the object to accelerate. Acceleration is the rate at which an object's velocity changes.
  • Acceleration Increases Velocity: As the reference states, because the object feels a force (gravity), it accelerates, which means its velocity increases as it falls. This means the object gets faster and faster as it drops towards the ground.

The strength with which the Earth pulls on something in the form of gravity causes this acceleration. Near the Earth's surface, this acceleration due to gravity is approximately constant, meaning that in a vacuum, all objects fall with the same rate of acceleration, regardless of their mass.

Practical Impact

Consider dropping a stone:

  • Initially, its velocity is zero.
  • As it falls, gravity pulls it downwards, causing it to accelerate.
  • After one second, its velocity has increased.
  • After two seconds, its velocity has increased even more.

This increasing velocity is a direct result of the constant acceleration caused by the gravitational force acting on the stone. While air resistance can affect the net acceleration and the object's velocity in real-world scenarios, the fundamental cause of the acceleration is gravity.

Essentially, gravity is the engine that drives the increase in speed for anything falling freely.