Week 1 - Free Falling
1. SIMULATE AND PLOT A FREE FALLING BODY OF MASS 1 KG AND INTERTIAL PROPERTIES 1 KG-M^2. THE GRAVITY ACTS IN THE Y-DIRECTION.
The object to be simulated is the point mass. Once the point is selected the label, variable and type are defined as shown below.
The properties of the body is defined by providing the values for mass and intertia which are 1 Kg and 1 Kg-m^2 respectively.
After defining the propeties the center of mass (CM) coordinates are defined where the global origin is selected.
The gravity is defined by opening the miscellaneous folder and then opening the forms folder. The gravity in the y-direction is -9.81 m/s^2.
Under the forms folder units is selected to change the length from the default millimeters to meters.
Once the following inputs are provided and conditions satisfied, the session is first saved and then a simulation is run for 2 seconds.
After running the simulation, the displacement vs time graph of the point mass is plotted.
2. DOES THE MASS AND INTERNIAL PROPERTIES DEPEND ON THE RATE OF FREE FALL?
No, mass and intertia does not depend on the rate of free fall because generally free fall occurs solely due to gravity. This can be understood from Newton's second law where,
F = ma.
a = F/m.
3. IN WHICH CASE WILL MASS HAVE AN EFFECT ON FREE FALL?
Mass will have an effect on free fall only when air resistance is taken into consideration.