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Gravity Acts Equally On All Masses
- Gravity pulls on every object in the universe based on mass and distance, so feathers have gravity too but it's negligible next to Earth.
- Galileo's idea: on a planet, gravity accelerates all objects equally regardless of mass when air resistance is absent.
Air Resistance Explains Feather's Slow Fall
- On Earth, air pushes back on falling objects and creates drag that slows light, bulky items like feathers.
- Heavy compact objects experience less relative air resistance, so they appear to fall faster in our atmosphere.
Moon Demo With Hammer And Feather
- In 1971 astronaut David Scott dropped a hammer and a falcon feather on the Moon to test Galileo's idea.
- Both objects hit the lunar surface at the same time because the Moon lacks an atmosphere to slow the feather.