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Answer (Detailed Solution Below)
Option 2 : Both will reach at same time on the ground
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100 Qs. 200 Marks 60 Mins
If two bodies of different masses, shapes and sizes are dropped in a vacuum from the same height then both will reach at same time on the ground.
But in presence of air, the viscous drag, Buoyancy etc. affected the bodies and heavy body come down earlier than lighter body.
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There are two ways that mass could effect the time of impact:
(1) An object which is very massive has a stronger attraction to the earth. Logically, this might make the object fall faster and so reach the ground sooner.
(2) An object which is very massive is difficult to get moving. (I.e. it has very high inertia.) Thus one might logically expect the very massive object to be more difficult to get moving and so to lose the race.
The miracle is that in the world we live in, these two effects exactly balance and so the heavier mass reaches the ground at the same time.
Now let me give a simple explanation for why it's natural that this comes about. Suppose we have two very heavy masses. If we drop them separately they take some time T to fall. On the other hand, if we attach them together, will they take the same length of time? Think about a sphere split into two halves:
Two two halves of the sphere would fall at the same speed as each other. So if you dropped them next to each other, they'd fall together. And dropping them next to each other isn't going to be any different from screwing them together and dropping them together. That is, there won't be any force on the screws. So the combined (or screwed together) sphere has to fall at the same rate as the split sphere.