In: Physics
e) Use the law of acceleration and find the value of the acceleration of the body that falls freely.
The force acting on any object of mass m on the surface of the planet is its weight which is ma where a is the acceleration of the object.
The force of gravitation acting between the object of mass m and
the planet is
where G is the universal gravitational constant, M is the mass of
the planet and R is the radius of the planet.
When the object is freely falling, the weight of the object is balanced by the gravitational force between the object and the planet.
is the acceleration of the body that falls freely which only
depends on the mass and radius of the planet and is independent of
the mass m of falling object. .