free fall

Also known as freefall, state of free fall

motion of a body where its weight is the only force acting upon it; any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it

AI overview

Free fall is motion that occurs when gravity is the only force acting on an object, such as when something drops through the air without air resistance or other forces slowing it down. It matters because understanding free fall helps us predict how objects move under gravity alone, which is fundamental to physics, space travel, and engineering.

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Image: U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 720th Special Tactics Group out of Hurlburt Field, Fla., jump out of a C-130J Hercules aircraft during water rescue training above Choctawhatchee Bay.jpg

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Commons category: Free fall

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Article

In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word "fall" is used, an object moving upwards is not considered to be falling, but using scientific definitions, if it is subject to only the force of gravity, it is said to be in free fall. The Moon is thus in free fall around the Earth, though its orbital speed keeps it in very far orbit from the Earth's surface.

In a roughly uniform gravitational field, gravity acts on each part of a body approximately equally. When there are no other forces, such as the normal force exerted between a body (e.g. an astronaut in orbit) and its surrounding objects, it will result in the sensation of weightlessness, a condition that also occurs when the gravitational field is weak (such as when the body is far away from any source of gravity).