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Qmechanic ♦
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It's a commonly taught principle that dropping two objects of different mass at the same height, given that there is no air resistance, will result in the two objects making contact with the ground at the same time. That's physics 101. However, I'm wondering if this is proven physics, or simply a rounding up.

According to Newton's law of gravitation,

$ F=G\frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}\ $

Does that not mean that a difference in the mass of the object being dropped will result in a larger/smaller acceleration? Is the reason we don't bother with this because the change in $g$ is so minute that it's trivial, or is there physics which states that, no matter what, two objects without air resistance dropped at the same height will hit the ground at the same time?

Thanks

It's a commonly taught principle that dropping two objects of different mass at the same height, given that there is no air resistance, will result in the two objects making contact with the ground at the same time. That's physics 101. However, I'm wondering if this is proven physics, or simply a rounding up.

According to Newton's law of gravitation,

$ F=G\frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}\ $

Does that not mean that a difference in the mass of the object being dropped will result in a larger/smaller acceleration? Is the reason we don't bother with this because the change in $g$ is so minute that it's trivial, or is there physics which states that, no matter what, two objects without air resistance dropped at the same height will hit the ground at the same time?

Thanks

It's a commonly taught principle that dropping two objects of different mass at the same height, given that there is no air resistance, will result in the two objects making contact with the ground at the same time. That's physics 101. However, I'm wondering if this is proven physics, or simply a rounding up.

According to Newton's law of gravitation,

$ F=G\frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}\ $

Does that not mean that a difference in the mass of the object being dropped will result in a larger/smaller acceleration? Is the reason we don't bother with this because the change in $g$ is so minute that it's trivial, or is there physics which states that, no matter what, two objects without air resistance dropped at the same height will hit the ground at the same time?

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mjkaufer
mjkaufer
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Dropping Objects of Different Masses

It's a commonly taught principle that dropping two objects of different mass at the same height, given that there is no air resistance, will result in the two objects making contact with the ground at the same time. That's physics 101. However, I'm wondering if this is proven physics, or simply a rounding up.

According to Newton's law of gravitation,

$ F=G\frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}\ $

Does that not mean that a difference in the mass of the object being dropped will result in a larger/smaller acceleration? Is the reason we don't bother with this because the change in $g$ is so minute that it's trivial, or is there physics which states that, no matter what, two objects without air resistance dropped at the same height will hit the ground at the same time?

Thanks