Miranda is investigating the concept of gravity. She dropped a flat sheet of paper and a sheet of paper crumpled into a ball from the same height. She repeated the procedure from various heights.

For every trial, the paper ball hit the floor in less time than the flat sheet of paper. Why did the paper ball always fall faster?

A. Gravity is stronger for the paper ball.

B. Air can get trapped in the paper ball.

C. There is no friction for a ball-shaped object.

D. The flat sheet was affected more by friction.

Question

Lainey Roth

English

10 April, 07:49

Miranda is investigating the concept of gravity. She dropped a flat sheet of paper and a sheet of paper crumpled into a ball from the same height. She repeated the procedure from various heights.

For every trial, the paper ball hit the floor in less time than the flat sheet of paper. Why did the paper ball always fall faster?

A. Gravity is stronger for the paper ball.

B. Air can get trapped in the paper ball.

C. There is no friction for a ball-shaped object.

D. The flat sheet was affected more by friction.

+1

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Lyric Hale · Answer 1

The paper ball always falls faster because:

D. The flat sheet was affected more by friction.

Explanation:

Friction is the force resisting the motion of two things sliding against each other. In the experiment described, we can think of friction as the air resisting the falling objects. The paper that is not crumpled has a larger surface for air to resist. It basically encounters more friction than the paper ball, whose surface, after being crumpled, became smaller in comparison. If it weren't for friction - if the experiment was done in a vacuum -, both the sheet and the ball would fall at the same speed.