Teacher Demonstration
Use the live model as a shared screen demonstration before students try their own predictions and observations.
Physics / Newtonian Mechanics
Free Fall 3 D
Explore Free Fall 3 D as an interactive EJS simulation for mechanics.
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1. Watch or Launch
Launch the Interactive
Open the simulation, adjust the controls, and compare what changes on screen before answering the concept-check questions.
2. Big Ideas
Key idea Free fall is motion under gravity where vertical velocity changes at a nearly constant acceleration. Simulations make it easier to separate position, velocity, acceleration, and time.
What Students Can Learn
- Recognise acceleration due to gravity as approximately constant near Earth.
- Distinguish velocity from acceleration.
- Use position-time or velocity-time patterns for falling motion.
- Discuss air resistance when the model includes it.
Guiding Question
How do position, velocity, and acceleration change as the object falls?
3. Try the Investigation
Set the Starting Condition
Choose initial height or velocity if the model allows it.
Watch Velocity Change
Observe whether the downward velocity increases by similar amounts each second.
Read the Graph or Display
Use numerical or graph evidence for acceleration.
Compare With Resistance
If air resistance is included, compare the motion with and without it.
4. Teacher Notes
Lesson Use
Use this to target the misconception that falling objects move with constant velocity. Students should describe velocity changing while acceleration remains approximately constant.
Discussion Prompts
Ask: What does the velocity-time graph look like? How is acceleration different from velocity? What would air resistance change?
Teaching Moves
Have students mark equal time intervals and compare distances travelled in each interval.
5. Concept Check
These questions are generated from the topic and the concept illustrated by the simulation. Use them after students have explored the model.
Concept Score
Correct first attempts build a streak and unlock higher point multipliers on this device.
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Answer each question once to build your streak.
1. What is the acceleration of an object in ideal free fall near Earth?
2. What happens to downward velocity during ideal free fall from rest?
3. What graph best shows constant acceleration?
4. What does air resistance usually do?
5. What evidence should students cite?
Expert Challenge
Unlocks after 3 correct concept-check answers on this page.
1. A falling object has increasing downward velocity. Which statement best separates velocity from acceleration?
2. In ideal free fall from rest, what graph evidence best supports constant acceleration?
3. A student says heavier objects must fall faster in the ideal model. What is the best feedback?
4. What changes when air resistance becomes significant during a fall?
5. Why do equal time intervals during free fall show increasing distances travelled?
7. Learning Pulse
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