Question: What does free falling mean?

Answer:

Free fall means that a  falling object ONLY has the force of gravity acting on it.

1. If you drop a ball, it free falls.
2. If you throw a ball downward, the ball DOES NOT FREE FALL.

Examples:

1. The bearded vulture in the photo is different from other vultures. It is not interested in a rotting carcass.
Instead, the bearded vulture wants only the bone marrow inside the bones of dead animals. In order to break the bones open, the bearded vulture flies high over a rocky area with a bone in his beak. When the bone is dropped, it free falls to earth. This procedure has to be repeated until the bone hits a surface hard enough to break the bone into small pieces, and thus exposing the bone marrow inside.

2. If you jump from a diving board, when you start moving downward, you are FREE FALLING.

The boy in the photo is free falling.

Use the Search on the following website to find out more about GRAVITY.

http://scienceprojectideasforkids.com/

Janice VanCleave’s Gravity: Spectacular Science Projects