Answer to Question #32176 in Electric Circuits for Millie

Question

The back table at La Fiesta resturant in Elko is slightly tilted. When Hannah places a tennis ball on the top center of the table and gently lets go the ball rolls slowly to the edge and then drops off. This motion is of course caused by gravity acting on the ball. So there are really two motions that the ball undergoes in this problem. First the ball rolls on the table toward the edge with an acceleration much less than 9.8 m/sec^2 but as the ball falls off it suddenly has an acceleration of 9.8 meters/sec^2. The question is, if the motions of the ball are caused by gravity, why does the ball have an acceleration much less than 9.8 m/sec^2 when rolling across the table top toward the edge? In other words, when it is rolling on the table how come the acceleration is not "g"?