Free Fall & Ball Drop | Interactive Physics model

Interactive experiment

Height (m) Gravity (m/s²)

STOPWATCH

0.000 s

Height10.00 m

Speed0.00 m/s

Expected1.428 s

Ready.

Free Fall Python Simulation

This simple Python model calculates the free-fall time and impact velocity of a ball dropped from a given height. Change the height or gravitational acceleration and compare the Python results with the interactive physics simulation above.

import math

# Ball drop experiment
h = 10.0          # height (m)
g = 9.81          # gravity (m/s^2)

# Time to reach the ground
t = math.sqrt(2 * h / g)

# Velocity at impact
v = g * t

print("Height:", h, "m")
print("Gravity:", g, "m/s^2")
print("Time to ground:", round(t, 3), "s")
print("Impact velocity:", round(v, 2), "m/s")

# Expected output:
# Height: 10.0 m
# Gravity: 9.81 m/s^2
# Time to ground: 1.428 s
# Impact velocity: 14.01 m/s

How the Python free-fall model works

The program uses the free-fall equation to calculate how long the ball takes to reach the ground. It then calculates the impact velocity from gravitational acceleration and falling time. For a 10 m drop using Earth's gravitational acceleration of 9.81 m/s², the ball reaches the ground after approximately 1.43 seconds at about 14.0 m/s.

Try this Python experiment: Change h from 10 m to 20 m. Does doubling the height double the falling time?