Free Fall

Imagine Charlotte, Avery, and Rohan are astronauts on a space mission. They drop an object in space where there's no air resistance. Does the object experience free fall?

• True

• False

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

Anika, Aria, and Henry are having a debate. Anika argues that an object in free fall experiences an increase in speed of 9.80 m/s during each second. Is Anika correct?

• True

• False

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Charlotte, Nora, and Aiden are having a debate. They each drop a crumpled paper ball and a flat paper at the same time. They notice that they fall at different rates. Can you help them figure out why?

• Is it because the paper ball is heavier like a bowling ball?

• Is it because the shape of the paper ball is round like a bowling ball, which prevents air resistance?

• Is it because of the effect of air resistance?

• Or is it because of the wavy nature of the paper, like a feather?

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Imagine Ava, William, and Charlotte are playing a game of catch. Ava throws a ball straight down with an initial speed of 20 m/s. If the ball continues to fall for 3 seconds, can you guess how fast it's going when it reaches William?

• 10 m/s

• 30 m/s

• 40 m/s

• 50 m/s

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Imagine this: Hannah, the school's star juggler, throws a ball straight up into the sky during a sunny afternoon. The ball soars high and remains in the air for a whopping 6 seconds before it lands back in Hannah's hand. Abigail and Charlotte, watching this, wonder: What is the initial speed of the ball?

• 20 m/s

• 30 m/s

• 50 m/s

• 60 m/s

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

Ethan, Liam, and Arjun are on a field trip to California's Redwood National Park. They are amazed by the height of the Sequoia sempervirens, the tallest tree in the park. They decide to conduct an experiment. They release an object from rest from the top of the tree. The object reaches the ground in 7 seconds without touching anything. Can you help them figure out the height of the tree?

• 245 m

• 49 m

• 250 m

• 35 m

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

Imagine this! Daniel, Aiden, and Emma are on a field trip to The Westin Stamford Hotel in Detroit. Daniel, being a bit clumsy, accidentally drops his sandwich from the roof of the hotel. They all watch as it takes 6 seconds for the sandwich to hit the ground. Assuming there is no air resistance, can you guess the height of the hotel?

• 60 m

• 180 m

• 36 m

• 30 m

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Imagine this! Our friends Liam, David, and James are on a thrilling adventure in St. Louis, Missouri. They find themselves at the famous Gateway to the West Arch, which stands majestically at about 125 m tall. Suddenly, Sally, a fearless stuntwoman, decides to perform a daring stunt. She plans to release herself off the top of the arch and land on a safety pad at the base. Can you guess what her final velocity would be?

• 250 m/s

• 75 m/s

• 100 m/s

• 50 m/s

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Imagine this! Abigail and Rohan are having a fun debate about fleas. Rohan claims that a flea can jump 100 times its size and it takes 4 seconds for the flea to jump from the ground and land back again. Abigail is intrigued and wants to calculate the initial velocity of the flea's jump. Can you help her out? Remember, the jump is entirely in the vertical direction and air resistance is insignificant.

• 20 m/s

• 400 m/s

• 100 m/s

• 40 m/s

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

Imagine Oliver, James, and William are having a fun day out in the park. Oliver throws a ball straight up into the sky. At the highest point in its path, what can we say about the ball's velocity 'v' and its acceleration 'a'?

• both v = 0 and a = 0

• v ≠ 0, but a = 0

• v = 0, but a ≠ 0

• both v ≠ 0 and a ≠ 0