This blog is not a science blog but in our early days it had a reputation for winding up scientists because we wise old gits (well we’re certainly old gits and we like to think there is a bit of wisdom among us) like to ask the kind of questions scientists don’t want to be asked.
So maybe, as this blog is only to keep our original little Nicky Machiavelli posts alive now that our news site has moved on to The Daily Stirrer, we might as well continue to wind up the smug, condescending bastards whose attitude is “I said ‘science more time than you so that proves I’m more intelligent.’
Here’s a little something we found that shows once again a lot of what scientists tell you is illogical, ill thought out and just plain wrong.
Question
Do falling objects drop at the same rate (for instance a pen and a bowling ball dropped from the same height) or do they drop at different rates? I know a feather floats down very slowly but I would think a heavy object would fall faster than a light object. Thanks for your help. I have a bet on this one.
Asked by: Terri
Answer
If no air resistance is present, the rate of descent depends only on how far the object has fallen, no matter how heavy the object is. This means that two objects will reach the ground at the same time if they are dropped simultaneously from the same height. This statement follows from the law of conservation of energy and has been demonstrated experimentally by dropping a feather and a lead ball in an airless tube.
When air resistance plays a role, the shape of the object becomes important. In air, a feather and a ball do not fall at the same rate. In the case of a pen and a bowling ball air resistance is small compared to the force a gravity that pulls them to the ground. Therefore, if you drop a pen and a bowling ball you could probably not tell which of the two reached the ground first unless you dropped them from a very very high tower.
Answered by: Dr. Michael Ewart, Researcher at the University of Southern California
So you see, as few of us go around with a vacuum chamber in our pockets in which we can scientifically drop anything that slips through our fingers, the scientists are wrong. In the world in which things that breathe air must live, objects do not fallat the same speed, that only happens in an airless environment.
But scientists will never accept the evidence that is STARING THEM IN THE FUCKING FACE so I’ll back that up with a piece from The Physics Classroom:
The Big Misconception
Earlier in this lesson, it was stated that the acceleration of a free-falling object (on earth) is 9.8 m/s/s. This value (known as the acceleration of gravity) is the same for all free-falling objects regardless of how long they have been falling, or whether they were initially dropped from rest or thrown up into the air. Yet the questions are often asked “doesn’t a more massive object accelerate at a greater rate than a less massive object?” “Wouldn’t an elephant free-fall faster than a mouse?” This question is a reasonable inquiry that is probably based in part upon personal observations made of falling objects in the physical world. After all, nearly everyone has observed the difference in the rate of fall of a single piece of paper (or similar object) and a textbook. The two objects clearly travel to the ground at different rates – with the more massive book falling faster.
The answer to the question (doesn’t a more massive object accelerate at a greater rate than a less massive object?) is absolutely not! That is, absolutely not if we are considering the specific type of falling motion known as free-fall. Free-fall is the motion of objects that move under the sole influence of gravity; free-falling objects do not encounter air resistance. More massive objects will only fall faster if there is an appreciable amount of air resistance present.
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Little Nicky Machiavelli 