Falling in Air
When an object falls freely, the resultant force acting on it is gravity. It will make the object accelerate around 10m/s² close to the earth. We call this force of gravity “weight” and the acceleration “the acceleration due to gravity.” Therefore the above equation becomes:
weight (N) = mass (kg) x acceleration due to gravity (m/s²)
If the object is on the Earth, not falling, we use:
weight (N) = mass (kg) x gravitational field strength (N/kg)
When an object falls through a fluid (i.e. a liquid or a gas, e.g. air), the fluid exerts opposite forces on the falling object reducing its motion, for example air resistance. The faster the object falls, the greater the frictional force. Eventually, this would be equal to the weight of the object – this resultant force is now zero, so the object will stop accelerating and begin moving at a steady velocity – called the terminal velocity.
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