Use this Free Fall Tube to demonstrate the effects of gravity on items, and help students develop a thorough understanding how gravity works.
The Guinea and Feather is one of the most important experiments in classical physics and it is still performed today as a lecture demonstration for thousands of introductory physics students. It shows that the Earth’s gravity accelerates all objects equally, regardless of mass i.
e. that a heavy object (a British guinea) and a light object (a feather) will fall at exactly the same rate.
This concept of uniform gravitational acceleration was proposed by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and directly contradicted the previous claim by Aristotle (384-322 B.
C.
) that heavier objects fall faster. Of course if you drop a coin and a feather under normal (atmospheric) conditions, the coin will hit the ground first. But Galileo reasoned that there was another force at work slowing down the feather. That force was air resistance and Galileo claimed that under conditions without air resistance, all objects would accelerate equally. Unfortunately, the techniques for creating a sufficient vacuum did not exist at the time to prove Galileo correct.
Please note that a vacuum pump is required for this free fall tube.
No other accessories are required.
We do not recommend using a machine vacuum on this Tube for more than 2 minutes at a time.
Measurements: 7cm diameter, 100cm long