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Anon is a physicist (sh.itjust.works)
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[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

He's close, but not quite there. Air resistance slows things, and in a vacuum all things will fall at the same rate, yes. But, weight has zero impact on the rate an object falls through the atmosphere. Air resistance affects things based on their shape and permeability. He's still saying that a heavier object will fall faster in atmosphere, all other things being equal, which is false.

He clearly knows air resistance is a thing, he just doesn't understand how it works.

[-] MrConfusion@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hi. Physicist here. You are absolutely wrong. The mass of an object does not affect the magnitude of force of air resistance which acts upon a falling object. But the acceleration that object will have is given by Newton's second law as Force divided by mass. So a heavy and a light ball with the same shape will experience the same air resistance, but the heavy ball will "care less" and thus fall faster.

[-] dreugeworst@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 months ago

But it does affect the downward force acting on the object. Given two objects of the same shape but with different masses, one will indeed fall slower than the other. This is because the ratio of weight to surface area differs a lot between the two. Here's a calculator from NASA you can play with, and a relevant passage from the same page:

If we have two objects with the same area and drag coefficient, like two identically sized spheres, the lighter object falls slower. This seems to contradict the findings of Galileo that all free-falling objects fall at the same rate with equal air resistance. But Galileo’s principle only applies in a vacuum, where there is NO air resistance and drag is equal to zero.

https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/termvel/

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

A ping-pong ball sized lead shot and a ping-pong ball both fall at the same rate though air?

That doesn't sound right.

[-] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

That's because there's more than just weight that's different there

Don't leave dry sarcasm on the Internet without the requisite sarcasm mark, lol, I ain't gonna bitch out and add it now tho

[-] MrConfusion@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

If all things are equal except for mass. Then the object of higher mass will fall faster.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Size and shape are the same. Mass is different. What else?

this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
11 points (100.0% liked)

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