Asked on 9/27/2025 by Ahmad Ali
In real life, heavier things seem to fall faster because of air resistance. So it's confusing when physics says they fall at the same rate in a vacuum.
In a vacuum, there is no air resistance. According to Galileo's principle and Newton’s laws of motion, all objects fall with the same acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s²), regardless of their mass. So, a heavy object and a light object experience the same gravitational acceleration. The force of gravity is higher on the heavier object (F = mg), but it also has more mass (inertia), which exactly balances out, resulting in the same rate of fall. Therefore, both objects fall at the same speed in a vacuum.
Answered on 10/8/2025
In a vacuum, there is no air, so no air resistance acts on falling objects. Gravity pulls on all objects equally, giving them the same acceleration. Heavier objects have more force acting on them, but also more mass, which cancels out. This results in all objects falling at the same rate—about 9.8 m/s² on Earth. Therefore, in a vacuum, heavy and light objects fall at the same speed.
Answered on 10/4/2025
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