What is the maximum speed an object can reach during free fall?

With air resistance acting on an object that has been dropped, the object will eventually reach a terminal velocity, which is around 53 m/s (190 km/h or 118 mph) for a human skydiver.

Do objects in freefall speed up?

As an object falls, it picks up speed. The increase in speed leads to an increase in the amount of air resistance. Eventually, the force of air resistance becomes large enough to balances the force of gravity.

How long would it take to fall to the speed of light?

So it takes roughly a year for a object to reach light speed, all theoretical of course. You made an assumption which cannot be valid. The 9.8 m/s/s gravitational acceleration is ONLY correct at the surface of the Earth.

Can an object in free fall get slower?

Scott demonstrated on the Moon in 1971, where the acceleration due to gravity is only 1.67 m/s2. In the real world, air resistance can cause a lighter object to fall slower than a heavier object of the same size. The acceleration of free-falling objects is therefore called the acceleration due to gravity.

Why does an object experience weightlessness while free fall?

When in free fall, the only force acting upon your body is the force of gravity – a non-contact force. Since the force of gravity cannot be felt without any other opposing forces, you would have no sensation of it. You would feel weightless when in a state of free fall.

What factors will affect a free falling objects motion?

The acceleration of the object equals the gravitational acceleration. The mass, size, and shape of the object are not a factor in describing the motion of the object. So all objects, regardless of size or shape or weight, free fall with the same acceleration.

Why do lighter objects fall slower?

In a vacuum, both heavy and light objects fall at the same rate. But, often light objects, such as feathers, have more surface area, resulting in greater air resistance, and fall slower.