An object is dropped and falls freely near the surface of the Earth. What is the approximate value of the acceleration of free fall?
Question 1 Report
An object is dropped and falls freely near the surface of the Earth.
What is the approximate value of the acceleration of free fall?
Answer Details
The acceleration of free fall (often written as \( g \)) is a well-known constant near the Earth's surface. Its value is approximately 9.8 m/s2 (often rounded to 10 m/s2 in calculations).
This means that every second an object is in free fall, its downward speed increases by about 9.8 m/s (ignoring air resistance).
The value 100 m/s2 and 20 m/s2 are far too large, and 0.98 m/s2 is ten times too small. Knowing that \( g \approx 9.8 \text{ m/s}^2 \) (or \( \approx 10 \text{ m/s}^2 \)) is a fundamental fact required throughout the IGCSE Physics course.
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