Lab Report

Free-Falling
By :
Dharmawat J.
Kornchanok L.
Nutticha K.
1106

1
 Introduction

Free-falling is the action which force of gravity affects on to

the objects downward to the land. One of theory established by
Galileo Galilei (1586), the physicist, astronomer, engineer, and
philosopher, about free falling is “The objects which have different
mass are dropped at the same time from the same height are
always on the ground at the same time.” This theory are formed
from his experiment by dropping balls that same material, but
different masses from the Learning Tower of Pisa in Italy. (Senayai,
2017)
The main thing that involved with free-falling action is the
gravity. Gravity is the nature force from the earth which pulled
everything to the land as the acceleration of estimated
9.8m/s2, in fact we usually round up in to 10m/s2as the acceleration
of gravity for easier to calculate. If we don’t have the gravity, we
would be floated out of space. We can notice that when we drop
something to the ground we would see that it always move
downward and when object almost attack to the ground, it is faster
than when it was dropped at the beginning because of the
acceleration of gravity.
Someone did the experiment, but the result is not follow to the
theory. It happened because we might not follow the condition of the
experiment which is the air-resistance. The air-resistance is a force
formed by air when the object go through the air. Therefore shape
of the object is affecting to the experiment.(Chegg, 2016) If the
shape of the object is wide and flat, It would get more air
resistance than one that rounded and solid.

2
 Objective

For this experiment, us, the members, would like to prove

the theory “masses are not affect to the velocity of the objects”
is true. Our experiment is almost similar with Galileo’s, but
different location which is 4th MUIDS building.

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 Materials

Golf ball Stopwatch

Basketball Measuring Tape

4
 Procedure

1. Assign roles for each member:

a. 3 times → 4th floor (with extra task each)
Timer A: Drop balls
Timer B: Take note
Timer C: Measure with a measuring tape
b. 1 ball collector → ground floor
2. Timers go to 4th floor with
a. 6 balls (3 golf ball + 3 basketball)
b. Measuring tape
c. 3 stopwatches
d. Worksheet
e. pen/ pencil
3. Timer C use measuring tape to measure the height from the
balcony to the ground with assistance from ball collector on the
ground floor
4. Timer B note down the measured height
5. All timers get ready to record the data
6. Timer A drop the ball and at the same time, give a signal to start
time recording until the ball hit the ground. (All timers measure the
time separately)
7. Timer B write down all timers measurement in the worksheet
8. Repeat for trail #2 and #3. Then move on to the next object (3
more trails)
9. Ball collector bring all the balls back to the lab

5
 Analysis of results

According to the result, measuring height by releasing heavy object

is more accurate than light object because there are many factors
that affect this experiment and it causes error. For example, air
resistance, force and timing. Air resistance may have more effect on
light object because light object is easier to be blown and air resistance
can decrease falling speed of an object. So, light object will have more
distance and use more time to fall.

6
 Conclusion

According to the result, the instantaneous velocities of both basketball

and golf ball are the same, both at midway and at the ground, therefore
both of them were falling at the same speed and reached the ground at
the same time. The experiment shows us that weight and air resistance
are not the factors of free fall because free fall is a motion of an
object where gravity is the only force acting on it.

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 Recommendation

- The elapsed time from three of us need to be more precise.

- The result need to be more accurate such as the height of 4th
floor balcony that we got from calculating the height and from
measuring the height are still 1-3% different.
- The person who dropped the ball needs to make sure he/she
doesn’t put any force on it.

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 References

- Senaiyai, S. (2017) Discovery Law and Theory of Physics. Scimath.

Retrieved from
http://www.scimath.org/lesson-physics/item/7319-discovery-law-and-t
heory-of-physics-discovery-law-and-theory-of-physics
- William, M. (2016) What is air resistance?. Universe Today. Retrieved
from: https://www.universetoday.com/73315/what-is-air-resistance/
- Drake, E. (1978). Galileo Galilei biography. Wikipedia. Retrieved from:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei

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 Work log

Kornchanok
- Counted the time when the balls fell
- Took notes
- Did procedure, data and results, calculation and analysis of results
parts on the lab report
Nutticha
- Counted the time when the balls fell
- Did introduction, objective, materials, references, calculation and
set-up parts on the lab report
- Decorated the lab report
Dharmawat
- Counted the time when the balls fell
- Dropped the balls
- Did conclusion, recommendation, references, calculation and work
log on the lab report

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