The direction of the acceleration due to gravity is downward (towards the center of Earth). 78 m/s 2 to 9.83 m/s2, depending on latitude, altitude, underlying geological formations, and local topography, the average value of 9.80 m/s2 will be used in this text unless otherwise specified. It is constant at any given location on Earth and has the average valueĪlthough varies from. The acceleration due to gravity is so important that its magnitude is given its own symbol. This opens a broad class of interesting situations to us. The acceleration due to gravity is constant, which means we can apply the kinematics equations to any falling object where air resistance and friction are negligible. The acceleration of free-falling objects is therefore called the acceleration due to gravity. The force of gravity causes objects to fall toward the center of Earth. For the ideal situations of these first few chapters, an object falling without air resistance or friction is defined to be in free-fall. (It might be difficult to observe the difference if the height is not large.) Air resistance opposes the motion of an object through the air, while friction between objects-such as between clothes and a laundry chute or between a stone and a pool into which it is dropped-also opposes motion between them. A tennis ball will reach the ground after a hard baseball dropped at the same time. In the real world, air resistance can cause a lighter object to fall slower than a heavier object of the same size. Scott demonstrated on the Moon in 1971, where the acceleration due to gravity is only. This is a general characteristic of gravity not unique to Earth, as astronaut David R. \): A hammer and a feather will fall with the same constant acceleration if air resistance is considered negligible.
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