Friday, June 10, 2016

Physics

Hello and welcome to my blog! Today's topic is physics. More specifically, the physics of falling balls. All of this content is derived from my physics course, How Things Work: An Introduction To Physics through the University of Virginia and taught by Professor Louis Bloomfield. Also, this all holds true only if you ignore effects due to air.

Does a ball's upward motion affect its fall? The simple answer is that there is no large effect due to an upward motion. The ball still has a downward acceleration, so it will still fall downwards. Why does a ball travelling upwards still have a downwards acceleration? Because of gravity. Gravity drags the ball down, and the closer the ball gets to the earth, the faster gravity drags it. Fun fact: A ball thrown directly up is temporarily motionless, or at rest, at the peak of its arc. 

Does differing gravity strength affect the fall of a ball? Yes, it does. For example, in zero gravity, a ball dropped from rest will stay at rest, while a ball dropped in motion will stay in motion. In a zero-gravity situation, if I was to throw a ball directly up, it would float up forever, or until it enters a gravity field. Everything in the universe exerts a gravity field, with its weight determining how strong that field is. That is why the earth's gravity is so much stronger than the moon's, or yours!

As an extra bonus, does a ball's horizontal motion effect its fall? Not the fall, no.The only thing horizontal motion effects is the distance that the ball travels. The angle that a ball is kicked/thrown also affects the distance traveled and/or the peak height. If a punter in American football wants to get the ball far, he should kick at a low angle. If he wants to get the ball high, he should kick it at a higher angle.

Thank you for visiting School Stories (Where School Is ALWAYS In Session!) today, and I hope that you read all my other posts!

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