Free-fall Apparatus

An apparatus for investigating how objects move in free fall and for determining the acceleration due to gravity (g) by timing a fall over a known distance. A release unit doubles as the start switch and a drop plate as the stop switch: timing begins automatically the moment the object is released and stops when it strikes the plate. The set includes two 12 mm and two 16 mm gold-plated steel balls plus a 40 mm table-tennis ball weighted to match a 12 mm steel ball, so pupils can study the effect of both mass and shape on the fall. It is well suited to lower- and upper-secondary physics work on free fall and gravitational acceleration.