When a coin and feather are dropped simultaneously from the same height the coin strikes the ground first.Why?
In the case of a vacuum they will fall equally quickly. So if they started at the same height and have to fall equally far they will arrive at the same time.
Do note that their mass is irrelevant in this case. This is because the strength of gravity scales with the mass: the more massive an object is, the stronger the effects of gravity. This is off-set with the fact that heavier objects take more effort to move. These effects cancel out and the result is that objects with different masses will fall equally fast.
If you include an atmosphere then things change, the shape of the object becomes important, but also the mass. That’s because two new effects become important: (air) resistance and buoyancy. The first scales with the effective area of the object, the later also scales with the mass.
In the case of a vacuum they will fall equally quickly. So if they started at the same height and have to fall equally far they will arrive at the same time.
Do note that their mass is irrelevant in this case. This is because the strength of gravity scales with the mass: the more massive an object is, the stronger the effects of gravity. This is off-set with the fact that heavier objects take more effort to move. These effects cancel out and the result is that objects with different masses will fall equally fast.
If you include an atmosphere then things change, the shape of the object becomes important, but also the mass. That’s because two new effects become important: (air) resistance and buoyancy. The first scales with the effective area of the object, the later also scales with the mass.
