Hi guys!
I have a rather curious habit: I love falling asleep on top of an old TV in my living room. It’s spacious enough to lie down and take a nice nap, without risking that anyone step on my tail.
Unfortunately, given the repetition of certain episodes, I think it is now evident that it is not wide enough to complete my nap without… falling!
Yep, guys: I am forced to admit that, while I’m sound asleep, I relax, I stretch out, I turn around and … I fall (even if I don’t get hurt, because like all cats I always fall on my feet)!
It only happens from time to time and, precisely, it’s all gravity’s fault. But these are other stories: what I want to tell you today concerns the motion of bodies in free fall.
All of us are subjected to the gravity force, which causes all falling bodies to be attracted to the ground with the same acceleration, defined as g = 9.8 m/s2. This scientific conclusion was first formulated by Galileo Galilei, father of the experimental method, and was openly in contrast with what was believed before him, namely that bodies with greater weight could fall faster than lighter ones. Nothing more wrong!
Continue reading “The Nap – The explanation of the motion of bodies in free fall”
