So now everyone is saying that a bowling ball and a feather WOULD land at the same time?

Question

If dropped off a building in todays world? WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080406143103AAlLwNV&r=w#Q8MsCTfuUjUFU.aDeAa5y6exLDpiPkhXWEfEb_YyLK.VM6ZyIqbp

Answer 1

No, a bowling ball and a feather would not fall at the same speed, except in a vacuum, however the difference in acceleration is not caused by the mass (as shown by the well known experiment, where you drop a bowling ball and a feather in a vacuum, removing outside factors, you can see that mass does not affect acceleration, and both fall at the same speed)... The cause is air resistance. That is what the question was asking.

Answer 2

Yes, but not because of their respective weights, which is what the question asked.

Answer 3

Hmm, that looked like the typical ratio of results that you get from the YA community: about 1/3 correct, 1/3 completely wrong, and 1/3 that just don't make any sense at all.

Of course, all objects the same distance from the surface will accelerate at the same rate until they hit terminal velocity, on earth a feather hits TV at a couple MPH (on average, though it does flutter) and the bowling ball will probably hit several hundred MPH before it no longer accelerates.  Since the moon has no atmosphere, there is no terminal velocity for any object dropped on its surface.

Answer 4

teh onyl reason the feather landed second was cause of air resistance. if you dropped hem while in a vacuum, they would land at te same time. fi you dropped a pebbekla nd a bowling bowl, tehy would land at teh same time.