Answer to Question #110763 in Classical Mechanics for Ellen

Question

1. When visiting the Italian town of Pisa, young physics student Isaac Galilei drops an apple with a weight of 2.0 N from the city's famous leaning tower. The apple falls 56m to the ground. First question: Ignoring air resistance and other subtle effects, how long does it take the apple to fall to the ground? The apple takes _____ s to fall to the ground.

Answer 1

As per the given question,

weight of the apple =2N

height fallen by apple = 56m

We know that gravitational acceleration of the earth $=9.8 m/sec^2$

$h=ut+\dfrac{gt^2}{2}$

Initially , u =0

$t=\sqrt{\frac{2h}{g}}=\sqrt{\frac{2\times 56}{9.8}}=\sqrt{11.42}sec$

$t=3.38 sec$

gravitational acceleration is independent of the object's mass.