Question

1) A force is a(n)__or a(n)__that acts on an object?
2)Gravity is a(n)__force that pulls objects together?

Can someone explain to me how gravity and air resistance can affect the motion of a falling object?

Will give medal.

Answer 1

I'm going to guess (1) is "push or pull" and (2) is "attractive".

If an object is falling, then the object is under the influence of a gravitational force. The gravitational force is given by Newton's 2nd Law F=mg, where g is the acceleration due to gravity. An important thing about gravity is that it accelerates ALL objects at the same rate (for Earth this is about 9.8 m/s^2). Mass plays no role in how fast an object will fall.

Air resistance is a frictional force. It comes into play when an object is in motion and is usually proportional to the velocity of the object. In some cases, it can even be proportional to the square of the velocity of the object. Either way, air resistance will act in the opposite direction of motion.

If air resistance is taken into account, then an object falling freely due to gravity will reach a maximum speed, known as terminal velocity. This speed varies for all different objects. This is the speed at which gravity and air resistance are acting with equal magnitudes on the object. For this reason, the object enter an equilibrium state and has no net forces acting on it. Therefore, by Newton's 1st Law, the object will continue to move at constant speed.