Exploration 2.7:
Drop Two Balls; One with a Delayed Drop
Please wait for the animation to completely load.
Two giant tennis balls are released from rest at a certain height.
One (the ball on the right)
can be dropped after the first ball is dropped. You may change the time delay from
0 to 2.5 s (enter the time delay
in the text box and click the "set
delay and play" button). The ghost
images mark the balls' positions every 0.5 s (position is given in
meters and time is given in seconds). Restart.
Choose a 1-s delay (for simplicity) and then answer the
following questions.
- Once the second tennis ball (the ball on the right) is released, does the difference
in the speeds increase, decrease, or stay the same?
- Once the second tennis ball (the ball on the right) is released,
does their separation increase, decrease, or stay the same?
- Is the time interval between the instants at which they hit
the ground smaller than, equal to, or larger than the time interval between the
instants at which they were released?
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