Qualitative question about inertia and gravity

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    Gravity Inertia
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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between mass, inertia, and acceleration in the context of free fall, questioning why objects of different masses accelerate equally under gravity.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the implications of inertia on acceleration, questioning how greater mass affects resistance to motion. There is a discussion about the nature of gravitational force and its constancy across different masses.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with the concepts, with some expressing confusion about the relationship between mass and gravitational force. There is a recognition of the need to analyze the implications of Newton's laws, but no consensus has been reached yet.

Contextual Notes

Some participants are grappling with the definitions and implications of gravitational force as it relates to mass and acceleration, indicating a potential gap in understanding the fundamental principles at play.

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Homework Statement


Why does an object with a bigger mass(more inertia) accelerate the same as an object with a lesser mass(less inertia) when in free fall?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

 
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Well, what do you think?
 
brainpushups said:
Well, what do you think?
I think I'm confused because an object with more inertia should resist it's change in state of motion more
 
Great. So what must that say about the force of gravity?
 
brainpushups said:
Great. So what must that say about the force of gravity?
the force of gravity is constant and causes a downward or negative acceleration.
 
LeHotDoge said:
the force of gravity is constant
The force is constant for a given mass?, or are you saying it's the same for all masses?
 
LeHotDoge said:
the force of gravity is constant and causes a downward or negative acceleration.
Ermmm...a no would do. Remember Newton's law of universal gravitation explicitly indicates that distance between is crucial to the magnitude of the gravitational force two masses experience.

Analyze... more mass, greater inertia(or vice versa). We expect the more massive body to resist acceleration compared to the other when acted on by the same force. This is the case we havs two different bodies of different inertia, but their accelerations are equal. This directly means a difference in...
 
haruspex said:
The force is constant for a given mass?, or are you saying it's the same for all masses?
well the force of gravity is m*g , so a greater mass would have a greater force of gravity. Acceleration of an object is directly proportional to force(in this case force of gravity) and inversely proportional to mass, now I understand.
 

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