Question

A red ball is thrown down with a large starting velocity. A blue ball is dropped from a rest at the same time as the red ball.

Which ball will experience the largest acceleration during the fall?

Answer 1

Both the red and blue balls will experience the same acceleration during their fall, assuming there are no other factors like air resistance or external forces affecting them.

In the absence of such external factors, all objects near the surface of the Earth, regardless of their mass or initial velocity (as long as it's not escape velocity), will experience the same acceleration due to gravity, which is approximately 9.8 meters per second squared (m/s²) on the surface of the Earth. This acceleration is the same for all objects in free fall near the Earth's surface, regardless of their initial conditions. So, both the red and blue balls will have the same acceleration of approximately 9.8 m/s².