Question

What do you mean by free fall?

Answer 1

Hint: Free fall is defined as the motion of an object where gravity is the only force acting upon it, the gravitation acceleration is denoted by g.

Complete solution:
To understand the free fall first we have to see definition of the free fall,
Free fall: - free fall is defined as a situation when a body is moving only under the influence of the earth’s gravity. We can say the external force is acting on the body which is accelerating the body towards earth.

This acceleration is known as acceleration due to gravity it is denoted by g.

Now let’s understand this definition:
Any object is pulled towards its center by the gravity of the earth. If an object is lowered from a certain height under the influence of the gravitational force, it begins to fall towards the earth’s surface. This motion is called free fall.

For example if we drop anything from the second or the third floor building the motion which the thing will gain is called free fall.

Additional information:
Definition of the gravitational acceleration
Gravitational acceleration is described as the object receiving acceleration due to the force of gravity acting on it.
It is denoted by ‘g’ and the unit of the gravitational acceleration is $m/{{s}^{2}}$
It is a quantity vector which has both magnitude and the direction.
Formula for gravitational acceleration is,
$\Rightarrow g=\dfrac{GM}{{{\left( r+h \right)}^{2}}}$
Where, G = universal gravitational constant.
M = mass of the body whose gravitational force acts on the given object.
r = planet radius.
h = height of the object.

Note:
As an approach to know what the free fall is first we understand the free fall via definition and after that we understand the free fall using brief description and one real life example of the free fall.