Question

What is the object's acceleration from 0 to 1s? From 0 to 3s? From 2s to 4s? Based on your calculations, what can you say about the acceleration of a falling object?

Answer 1

Given

A table interpreting the velocities of a falling object at given time

To find

What is the object's acceleration from 0 to 1s? From 0 to 3s? From 2s to 4s? Based on your calculations, what can you say about the acceleration of a falling object?

Explanation

We know,

Acceleration is the ratio of the change in velocities to the time.

Thus,

Acceleration from 0 to 1s

$a_{01}=\frac{9.8-0}{1-0}=9.8\text{ m/s}^2$

Acceleration from 0 to 3 s

$a_{03}=\frac{29.4-0}{3-0}=9.8\text{ m/s}^2$

Acceleration from 2s to 4 s

$a_{24}=\frac{39.2-19.6}{4-2}=\frac{19.6}{2}=9.8\text{ m/s}^2$

From the above calculation it is seen that the acceleration is constant.

Conclusion

For a falling object the acceleration is always constant and is equal to the acceleration due to gravity.