IB Physics 1 Unit 2

Topic

Text Reference IB Course Companion

Essential Knowledge
Freefall Motion
Free Fall refers to objects falling in the absence of air resistance.
Objects in Free Fall are influenced only by the gravitational attraction
of the earth.
The acceleration due to gravity (g or ag) is equal to 9.80 m/s2. This
is a constant rate of acceleration for objects near the earth. It is
negative because its direction is negative/down/toward the center
of the earth. The velocity and acceleration of an object are not
necessarily in the same direction. When a ball is thrown upward, its
velocity is positive, but its acceleration is downward. The ball is
moving upward as it slows down. At the highest point, the velocity is
zero and the acceleration is still -9.8 m/s2. As the ball falls back to
earth its speed will increase by 9.8 m/s for every second it falls.
The equations of motion for an object in Free Fall (with up being the positive direction) are:
a = - g, v = vi +at, and x = vit + at2 where vi is initial velocity (m/s) and x is displacement.
Galileo postulated that all objects would fall with the same constant acceleration in the absence
of air or other resistance. Experiments have shown that the acceleration due to gravity is
independent of the mass of the object. In a vacuum, all objects, regardless of mass, accelerate
at the same rate.

Study and
practice
Read Ch2,
pp. 39-41