Name: Date:

Student Exploration: Free Fall Tower

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: accelerate, air resistance, free fall, gravity, terminal velocity, vacuum

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Patty climbs a tree. While sitting on a branch, she The acorn would fall faster
drops a leaf and an acorn at the same time. What
would happen?

2. Patty decides to try another experiment. From the The large heavy rock would fall faster
same branch, she drops a large, heavy rock and a
small pebble. What would happen this time?

Gizmo Warm-up
In the Free Fall Tower Gizmo™, drag a pair of objects (no parachutes) to the top of the
tower, one to each platform. Check that Air is selected.

Click Play ( ). The objects are now in free fall, pulled to Earth by the force of
gravity.

1. What did you drop? I dropped a golf ball and a ping

2. Did the objects fall at the same rate? No

3. Which object fell faster? Golf ball

4. Click Reset ( ). Drop each possible combination of objects without

A. Which object fell fastest? Golf ball Slowest? Ping Pong

B. Why do you think some objects fall faster than others?

Because if their weight

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
● Click Reset.
Free fall in a
● Under Choose atmosphere, select Vacuum (no
vacuum
air).

Question: A vacuum is a region with no air or any other matter. How do different objects fall through a
vacuum?

1. Form hypothesis: How do you think objects will fall They will fall at the same time
when there is no air?

2. Experiment: Drop the different objects from the top They fell at the same time
of the tower. What do you notice?

3. Observe: Click Reset. Drop the watermelon and the ping pong ball from the top of the tower. Watch the
speedometers. They show each object’s speed in meters per second (m/s).

A. What do you notice? That both of the object's speed is different

B. What is the final speed of each object? Watermelon : 25m/s Ping Pong : 7m/s

C. An object is accelerating if its speed is changing. What can you say about the acceleration of
objects falling in a vacuum?

The acceleration is the same

4. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. The graph shows the speeds of the objects over time.

A. What do the lines on the graph look like? They look like they are going up

B. What does that tell you? They are getting faster

5. Extend your thinking: In 1971, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a feather on
the Moon, which has no air. What do you think happened? Explain your answer.

I think that they fell at the same time since there is no air on the moon which is the same as a
vacuum

(If you are on a computer, click here to see a video of this experiment.)

Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
● Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Air Resistance ● Click Reset.
● Under Choose atmosphere, select Air.

Question: How does air affect falling objects?

1. Observe: In Air, drop the objects from different levels of the tower. Look carefully at the speedometers as
the objects drop. What do you notice?

The heavier things fall faster even though the watermelon was placed higher up than the soccer
ball.

2. Form hypothesis: When objects fall through the air, they are pushed by a force called air resistance. How
do you think air resistance affects falling objects?

I think air resistance affects falling objects according to weight, so since the watermelon is heavier,
it had less air resistance because of its weight.

3. Experiment: Each platform on the tower is 5 meters higher than the one below it. Drop the ping pong ball
from the lowest (5 meter) platform, then the next platform (10 m) and so on. For each height, record the
final speed of the ping pong ball in meters per second (m/s).

Height 5m 10 m 15 m 20 m 25 m 30 m 35 m 40 m
Speed 5m/s 7m/s 8m/s 8.5m/s 9m/s 9m/s 9m/s 9m/s

4. Analyze: As an object falls through air, the object does not get steadily faster but approaches Terminal
Velocity.

A. What is the terminal velocity of the ping The terminal velocity of the ping pong ball is 9m/s
pong ball?

B. Select the GRAPH tab. How does the It displays it as a horizontal line
graph show terminal velocity?

5. Compare: Drop the soccer ball and the golf ball from the top of the tower. Which ball was slowed down
more by air resistance?

The soccer ball was slowed down more by air resistance because it's less dense

6. Extend your thinking: A soccer ball is heavier than a golf ball. Why do you think the soccer ball fell more
slowly than the golf ball?

Because of its density

Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
● Select the EXPERIMENT tab.
Parachutes ● Click Reset.
● Check that Air is still selected.

Question: How does a parachute affect a falling object?

1. Observe: Drag objects with parachutes to the tower. (Parachutes look like little backpacks.) As the objects
drop, click Open parachute(s). Compare how parachutes affect each object.

2. Form hypothesis: How will a parachute change the air resistance and terminal velocity of an object?

The parachute will change the or resistance and terminal velocity since the object will have more
air resistance because of the area that the parachute is covering.

3. Collect data: Find the terminal velocity of each object when the parachute is open.

Ping pong ball with parachute: 1m/s Soccer ball with parachute: 6m/s

Golf ball with parachute: 3m/s Watermelon with parachute: 15m/s

4. Analyze: The watermelon is heaviest, followed by the soccer ball, golf ball and ping pong ball. How does
the weight of an object relate to how fast it falls with a parachute?

The greater the weight, the faster it falls.

5. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. How does the graph show when the parachute is opened?

The line on the graph gets horizontal when the parachute is deployed

6. Predict:
Will a parachute work in a vacuum? No

Why or why not? Because there is no air to slow the parachute down

7. Test: Use the Gizmo to test your prediction.

Did the parachute work? No

8. Summarize: What controls how fast an object falls?

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The air and mass

Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved