Question

Explain why, if a stone held in our hand is released, it falls towards the earth.

Answer 1

If a stone held in our hands is released, it falls towards the earth. This happens because of the gravitational pull of the earth. Anything held at a height when released will fall towards the earth because there is a force that attracts everything to the earth's surface and this force is called the force of gravity.

The gravitational force acts both on the stone and the earth. The stone attracts the earth with the same force by which the earth attracts the stone. Since, the stone's mass is very small as compared to the earth's mass, so acceleration produced in the stone is very large but that in the earth is negligible. Hence the stone falls towards the earth.