Kinematic Equations and Free Fall

The Free Fall Mathematics Video Tutorial explains the meaning of distance and displacement and describes the distinction between the two quantities. Numerous examples, illustrations, and animations assist in the explanations.

The video lesson answers the following questions:

1. What is meant by free fall or free-falling motion?
2. How can the position, velocity, and acceleration be described during the course of a free fall motion?
3. How can the velocity of an object be calculated at any given instant in time?

Video

You can watch the video below, or click here to watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab).

To improve the effectiveness of the learning experience, The Physics Classroom has provided the following tools:

Additional and Related Learning Tools

Concept Builder: Free Fall
We think a Concept Builder is among the best ways to strengthen what you've learned in a Video Tutorial. Try this one to see if you understand the kinematics descriptions of a free-falling object.

Concept Builder: Up and Down
This Concept Builder will strengthen your ability to compare the velocities and accelerations for various locations in an up-and-down free fall motion.

Science Reasoning Center, Kinematics Section, Kinematics Reading Passage
Learn about representations of free fall, improve your science reasoning skills, and even gain a feel for what an ACT-style sceince passage is like. Try the passage titled Kinematics; it's the first one on the page.

The Physics Classroom Tutorial: 1D Kinematics, Lesson 5
Our Tutorial provides a detailed discussion of physics concepts. Lesson 5 of the Kinematics chapter includes 5 pages that will serve as a great reference.

Teacher Resources

Teacher Toolkits: Free Fall
Looking for standards-based, multimedia-driven resources on the topic of free fall? Try a Teacher Toolkit. We assigned the best Physics librarian the task of finding the best resources for various topics and the result is the Teacher Toolkits section. Try one day and maybe start with the one on free fall.

Curriculum Corner: 1D Kinematics
The Think Sheets at our Curriculum Corner have so many different uses. But we think the best use is the in-the-classroom use as a follow up to instruction like the instruction in this video. Among the many topics in the Kinematics section, you will find one titled Free Fall. Just what you need as a follow-up to our Video Tutorial.

Science Reasoning Center: 1D Kinematics: Kinematics
Our Science Reasoning Center has an emphasis on building skills associated with analyzing data representations, finding evidence and reasoning to substantiate a claim, and understanding experiments. The first choice on this page is titled Kinematics and it involved the analysis of an up-and-down motion of a ball. We think it makes a perfect pre-cursor to our Video Tutorial on the topic of free fall.

Concept Builder: Free Fall
If you've never tried a Concept Builder, then you should. We think you're missing something. We have two that pertain to the topic of free fall. This one pertains primarily to falling motion and focuses on speed, velocity, and acceleration.

Concept Builder: Up and Down
This is our second Concept Builder on free fall. Its focus is upon the analysis of up-and-down motion. It serves as an awesome formative assessment of student understanding of the concepts taught in our Video Tutorial.

The Physics Classroom Tutorial: 1D Kinematics, Lesson 5
If your students need a reliable and readable reference to physics topics, try our Tutorial. It has a long-standing reputation as a bebeficial source of information. Many teachers link to it from their course page.

Lesson Notes

Download (opens in a new tab) or view below

Slides

Do you like the slides we used? They are available in our low cost Teacher Presentation Pack, along with other updated materials used in our presentation.