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Q: Why did the hammer and the feather fall at the same rate on the moon but o earth?
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Why did the feather and the hammer land the same time on the moon and different times on the earth?

The Earth has an atmosphere and the moon doesn't, so a falling feather on Earth runs into quite a bit of air resistance which slows it down much more than a hammer. On the moon, there is no air resistance.


What can you do on the moon that you can't do on earth?

A lot, you can fall as fast (or as slow) as a feather, since there is no air resistance to the feather's fall. You can jump about 2x what you can jump on the earth. The stars do not twinkle when viewed from the moon since there is no atmosphere to distort the sunlight.


What will strike the surface of the moon first a hammer or a feather?

Both the hammer and the feather will hit the lunar surface simultaneously. In the absence of any atmosphere, there is no air resistance to slow down the feather. Therefore, in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. This was famously demonstrated during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 by astronaut David Scott, who dropped a hammer and a feather on the moon's surface and observed them falling together.


Why does the hammer and feather theory work on the moon and not on earth'?

In simple theory any object will accelerate downwards at the same rate after being dropped. But, if you try it, the air gets in the way and stops a feather falling as fast as a hammer. On the Moon there is no air so everything falls at the same rate (which is 1/6 as fast as on the Earth.


Why would a feather and hammer dropped at the same time on moon land together?

"Both will hit the moon at the same time?" Not Absolutely True.This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.But even with this help, the feather will still take a slightly longer time to collide with the moon as the gravity from the hammer will cause the flight path of the feather to curve towards the hammer and as such takes a longer path and hence a longer time to hit the moon.To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the feather first, then the hammer and then see the different times taken.All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not true, we also have to take into account which part of the hammer or feather is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released !So, the real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !

Related questions

Do objects fall at the same rate on a planet with no atmosphere?

No, because there is no air to slow the down. For deeper analysis, check youtube, hammer and feather experiment on the moon. They hit the ground at the same time on the moon because there is no atmosphere, but if you drop a hammer and a feather on earth the hammer, obviously, hits first.


Why did the feather and the hammer land the same time on the moon and different times on the earth?

The Earth has an atmosphere and the moon doesn't, so a falling feather on Earth runs into quite a bit of air resistance which slows it down much more than a hammer. On the moon, there is no air resistance.


Will a hammer fall faster than a feather on the moon?

No. Both will accelerate at about 1.6 meters per second square.


What can you do on the moon that you can't do on earth?

A lot, you can fall as fast (or as slow) as a feather, since there is no air resistance to the feather's fall. You can jump about 2x what you can jump on the earth. The stars do not twinkle when viewed from the moon since there is no atmosphere to distort the sunlight.


What will strike the surface of the moon first a hammer or a feather?

Both the hammer and the feather will hit the lunar surface simultaneously. In the absence of any atmosphere, there is no air resistance to slow down the feather. Therefore, in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. This was famously demonstrated during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 by astronaut David Scott, who dropped a hammer and a feather on the moon's surface and observed them falling together.


What would happen if you droped a hammer and a feather on the Moon?

What would happen if you dropped a hammer and a feather on the earth and on the moon? The above experiment is supposed to prove the equivalence principle which states that the acceleration an object feels due to gravity does not depend on its mass, density, composition, colour or shape.Answer:If you drop a hammer and a feather from the same height on earth, the hammer will hit the ground first as the feather is slowed down drastically by air resistance.But on the moon, because it is a vacuum, and since the acceleration of an object is the same as the gravity i.e. a = g and the mass is not in the equation, all objects will have the same acceleration and hence the hammer should fall to the surface of moon at the same time as the feather but:"Both will hit the moon at the same time as believed by most scientists?"This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the objects individually e.g. feather first, then the hammer and then see whether the times taken are the same or not.All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not necessarily true, we also have to take into account which part of the hammer or feather is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released (assuming that the centre of gravity of both objects are at the same level on release) !The real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !The famous experiment by Astronaut Dave Scott on the moon is not very precise.Dr HW Looi


Why does the hammer and feather theory work on the moon and not on earth'?

In simple theory any object will accelerate downwards at the same rate after being dropped. But, if you try it, the air gets in the way and stops a feather falling as fast as a hammer. On the Moon there is no air so everything falls at the same rate (which is 1/6 as fast as on the Earth.


What landed first on the moon a hammer or feather?

"Both will hit the moon at the same time?"This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.But even with this help, the feather will still take a slightly longer time to collide with the moon as the gravity from the hammer will cause the flight path of the feather to curve towards the hammer and as such takes a longer path and hence a longer time to hit the moon.To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the feather first, then the hammer and then see the different times taken.All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not true, we have to take into account the part of the hammer or feather which is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released !So, the real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !


Why would a feather and hammer dropped at the same time on moon land together?

"Both will hit the moon at the same time?" Not Absolutely True.This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.But even with this help, the feather will still take a slightly longer time to collide with the moon as the gravity from the hammer will cause the flight path of the feather to curve towards the hammer and as such takes a longer path and hence a longer time to hit the moon.To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the feather first, then the hammer and then see the different times taken.All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not true, we also have to take into account which part of the hammer or feather is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released !So, the real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !


Why does a coin and a feather fall with different accelerations in the presence of air?

The structure of the feather makes it catch the air and fall more slowly than the coin. Refer to the related link for the Apollo 15 mission to the moon, which has no atmosphere, in which an astronaut drops a hammer and a feather at the same time.


Would an object have the same density on the moon as it does on the earth?

Yes, it would have the same density. The volume of an object does not change no matter where it is. So on the moon the object would have the same mass and volume as it would on earth; therefore that object would have the same density. Density equals mass divided by volume.


Which astronaut dropped a hammer and falcon feather while on the moon?

Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott dropped the hammer and feather to show that since there is no air friction on the moon, and the acceleration of an object by gravity does not depend on the mass of the object.The above experiment is supposed to prove the equivalence principle which states that the acceleration an object feels due to gravity does not depend on its mass, density, composition, colour or shape."Both will hit the moon at the same time?"Answer:If you drop a hammer and a feather from the same height on earth, the hammer will hit the ground first as the feather is slowed down drastically by air resistance.But on the moon, because it is a vacuum, and since the acceleration of an object is the same as the gravity i.e. a = g and the mass is not in the equation, all objects will have the same acceleration and hence the hammer should fall to the surface of moon at the same time as the feather but:"Both will hit the moon at the same time as believed by most scientists?"This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the objects individually e.g. feather first, then the hammer and then see whether the times taken are the same or not.All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not necessarily true, we also have to take into account which part of the hammer or feather is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released (assuming that the centre of gravity of both objects are at the same level on release) !The real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !