An object thrown in an upward direction does not fall the same distance in each time interval as it descends toward Earth:
because it is accelerating
Explanation:
An object thrown in an upward direction is acted upon one force only: the force of gravity, which pulls the object downward (here we are assuming air resistance is negligible).
As a result, the motion of the object is a free fall motion, which is a uniformly accelerated motion with constant acceleration downward.
Therefore, the distance covered by the object in a time t is given by the suvat equation
where u is the initial velocity.
We can check that the distance covered in one second changes as the object descends. Assuming that the initial velocity is zero, u = 0 (this assumption is irrelevant, because the term is linear in t), we have:
- Displacement after 1 second:
- Displacement after 2 seconds:
So, the distance covered in the 1st second is 4.9 m, while the distance covered in the 2nd second is
Therefore, we see that the distance covered increases every second, because the object is accelerating.
Learn more about free fall motion:
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