Hands-on Lab: Air Resistance and Free Fall Name(s): Date: Pleaseuse a font color other than black, red or green for your answers.Theory: for several centuries, it was believed that heavy objectsfall to the earth at a faster rate than lighter ones. Galileo(1564-1642) performed experiments to show that this was not true.He showed that it was possible for light objects to fall at thesame rate as their heavy counterparts. Please watch the followingvideos for a review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kv-U5tjNCYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feFw8Ygn3fkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRhkQTQxm4whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mCC-68LyZM We now know that in theabsence of air resistance, all objects regardless of mass, size orshape, fall at the same rate when dropped from the same height.This was demonstrated on the Moon (where there is no atmosphere,and therefore no air resistance) by the Apollo 15 mission in 1971,as shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVfhztmK9zIThe air resistance an object encounters depends on the object’ssurface area and its speed. The air resistance is directlyproportional to the object’s surface area. As the object’s surfacearea increases, so does the air resistance it encounters. A lightobject with a large surface area such as a flat piece of paper willencounter significant air resistance as it falls. This airresistance is relatively large compared to the weight of the paperand will oppose the paper’s motion causing it to fall at a slowerrate or with a smaller acceleration. If we were to somehow removethe air resistance the paper encounters (for example, by droppingit in a vacuum), then the paper would fall at the same rate as aheavier compact object such as a book. A heavier object with thesame surface area as the paper, such as a book, on the other hand,will encounter a relatively small air resistance compared to itsweight, and will fall at a faster rate or with a largeracceleration compared to the paper. In this lab, we will explorethe above concepts. Materials needed: one sheet of letter-sizedpaper (8.5 x 11 inches), a heavy book of the same size, or a bookand paper of matching size - that is having similar lengths andwidths.   Experiment 1: drop a sheet of paper and a book side byside from the same height at the same time. Important: ensure thereare no strong air currents such as those produced by a fan or airconditioner while doing these experiments. Observe what you see andanswer the following questions. Please select (highlight in adifferent color), the best answer from the choices provided. 1. InExperiment 1 we see that a) the sheet of paper falls at the samerate as the book and lands at exactly the same time the book does.b) the sheet of paper falls at a faster rate and hits the floorbefore the book does. c) the sheet of paper falls at a slower rateand hits the floor after the book does. d) the sheet of paper movesupwards towards the roof, while the heavier book falls straightdown to the floor. 2. The observations in Experiment 1 can be bestexplained as follows: a) The air resistance felt by the paper issmall compared to its weight, it therefore does not slow down asmuch. The air resistance felt by the book is large compared to itsweight, it therefore slows down more than the paper and falls at aslower rate than the paper. b) Both the paper and the book feel thesame amount of air resistance compared to their weights. Theirmotion is not affected by air resistance at all. That is why theyboth hit the floor at the same time. c) The paper is much lighterthan the book. This causes the air to push upwards on the paper,and downwards on the book. Therefore, the paper and the book movein opposite directions d) The air resistance felt by the paper islarge compared to its weight, this slows it down. The airresistance felt by the book is small compared to its weight, ittherefore does not slow down as much. Therefore, the book hits thefloor before the paper.   Experiment 2: place the paper beneath thebook (against the book’s lower surface) and drop the book and paperat the same time. Observe carefully, and answer the followingquestions. Please select (highlight in a different color), the bestanswer from the choices provided. 3. In Experiment 2 we see that a)the book pushes the paper out of the way and falls to the floorseveral seconds before the paper does. b) the paper and the bookfall at the same rate and hit the floor at the same time. c) thepaper accelerates to the floor at a much faster rate than the book,and falls several seconds earlier than the book. d) the paperaccelerates to the floor at a much slower rate than the book, andfalls several seconds after the book. 4. The observations inExperiment 2 can be best explained as follows: a) since the paperis below the book, it has a distance advantage over the book, itneeds to travel a shorter distance to the floor than the book does.Therefore, the paper speeds up faster than the book, and hits thefloor several seconds before the book does. b) the greater weightof the book pushes the paper out of the way, and the book fallsstraight down due to gravity due to its greater weight, while themuch lighter paper remains floating in the air. c) the greaterweight of the book pushes down on the paper, overcoming the airresistance in the path of the paper, and therefore allowing it tofall at the same rate. d) although the paper and book are releasedat the same time, the paper is lighter and therefore experiences asmaller gravitational acceleration. That is why the paper hits thefloor several seconds after the book does.   Experiment 3: drop thebook and paper, but this time place the paper on top of the book.Observe carefully, and answer the following questions. Pleaseselect (highlight in a different color), the best answer from thechoices provided. 5. In Experiment 3 we see that a) the paper beingmuch lighter is left floating at the same place, the bookaccelerates downwards and hits the floor, while the paper remainsfloating hardly moving at all. b) the book accelerates to the floorat a much faster rate than the paper, and hits the floor severalseconds earlier than the paper. d) the paper accelerates to thefloor at a much faster rate than the book, and hits the floorseveral seconds earlier the book. d) the paper and the book fall atthe same rate and hit the floor at the same time. 6. Theobservations in Experiment 3 can be best explained as follows: a)the paper is several times lighter than the book, therefore theacceleration due to gravity the paper experiences is several timesgreater than what the book experiences. Therefore, the paper hitsthe floor several seconds earlier than the book. b) the lightnessof the paper enables it to float in the air, the book being muchheavier is pulled down by the force of gravity immediately, thusthe book falls while the paper floats. c) the book falls throughthe air before the paper and as it falls it clears the airresistance in the path of the paper, allowing the paper to fall atthe same rate. d) the book is several times heavier than the paper,therefore the acceleration due to gravity the book experiences isseveral times greater than that what the paper experiences.Therefore, the books hits the floor several seconds earlier thanthe paper.   Experiment 4: crumple the paper to make a compact ballor wad. Now hold the paper and the book side by side, and drop themboth from the same height at the same time. Observe carefully, andanswer the following questions. Please select (highlight in adifferent color), the best answer from the choices provided. 7. InExperiment 4 we see that a) the paper starts to spin while falling,this slows it down and it hits the floor several seconds after thebook does. b) the paper and the book fall at the same rate and hitthe floor at the same time. c) the book accelerates to the floor ata much faster rate than the paper, and hits the floor severalseconds earlier than the paper. d) the paper accelerates to thefloor at a much faster rate than the book, and hits the floorseveral seconds earlier the book. 8. The observations in Experiment4 can be best explained as follows: a) the circular shape of thewad of paper creates an axis of rotation through its center. As itfalls, the air pushes up on the paper causing it to rotate aboutthis axis. This drains energy from the paper causing it to fall ata slower rate. Therefore, the paper hits the floor several secondsafter the book. b) crumpling up the sheet of paper into a wadreduces its surface area. Due to its smaller surface area, the wadof paper experiences a much smaller air resistance. Since it hasthe same acceleration due to gravity as the book, it falls at thesame rate as the book and hits the floor at the same time. c) thebook is several times heavier than the paper, therefore theacceleration due to gravity the book experiences is several timesgreater than what the paper experiences. The shape of the paper hasno effect at all, and thus the book hits the floor several secondsearlier than the paper. d) the paper is several times lighter thanthe book, and it is also now smaller in size than the book,therefore the acceleration due to gravity the paper experiences isseveral times greater than that which the book experiences.Therefore, the paper hits the floor several seconds earlier thanthe book.   Multiple choice questions continued: Please select(highlight in a different color), the best answer from the choicesprovided. 9. From these experiments we can see that since the paperand book have different masses, a) the acceleration due to gravitythat falling objects experience increases proportionally with mass.b) the acceleration due to gravity that falling objects experiencedecreases proportionally with mass. c) the acceleration due togravity that falling objects experience increases with mass, butthe increase is not proportional to the object’s mass, it isdescribed by another more complicated equation. d) the accelerationdue to gravity that falling objects experience does not depend onmass. 10. From these experiments we can see that a) lighter objectsfall faster than heavier objects, regardless of how the objects areshaped. b) heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects,regardless of how the objects are shaped. c) in the absence of airresistance, all objects regardless of mass, shape and size, fall atthe same rate. d) air resistance is so small in everyday life thatit does not affect the motion of light objects such as sheets ofpaper or feathers and leaves when they fall down to the earth.Problem 1: a) An eagle with a mass of m = 7 kg while high up in theair, falls straight down vertically against an air resistance of R= 70 N. Find the acceleration of the eagle if the force of gravitypulling it down is equal to the air resistance R, in other words ifmg = 70 N. (Note: please use g = 10 m/s2 in this problem). Hint:use the equation for Newton’s second law to find the acceleration:(for more information please see section 4.6 of your textbook) Netforce = (mass)(acceleration) or in symbols: Fnet = ma We rearrangethis equation to solve for the acceleration a: a = Fnet/m In thiscase if we take the downward direction as positive, then the forceof gravity will have a positive sign and the air resistance whichis acting upwards in the opposite direction to the force ofgravity, will have a negative sign. In the above equation, Fnet isthe sum of all forces acting on the object. In this problem, Fnetis the force of gravity (mg) minus the air resistance (R). We canwrite this in equation form as: Fnet = mg – R We substitute thisterm for Fnet in the above equation for the acceleration a, to get:a = (mg – R)/m Substitute the given values for all terms on theright hand side to find the acceleration a. Please show the valuesyou substituted, your answer and the units for the answer. Answer:b) Based on your calculated value of the acceleration, what can yousay about the speed of the eagle’s descent? Is the eagle moving atall? Justify your answer. Answer: Please enter the names of allgroup members at the top of this document. Each member of the groupmust submit a copy of the lab report through their individualeCampus account.