Thrown up, coming down: one acceleration all the way
"Thrown up, coming down: one acceleration all the way" is a free, interactive Class 11 Physics simulation for NEET and JEE, built on the lesson "Free fall and vertical motion under gravity" in Motion in a Straight Line. Press Play. The green arrow is the velocity and the red arrow is the acceleration. Watch the red arrow on the way up, at the top and on the way down. Choose one positive direction and keep it for the whole flight. With up as positive, a = −g at launch, at the top (where v = 0) and on the way down, and the time up equals the time back to the launch level. JEE Main asked 30 questions from this chapter across the 42 shifts Lumi has analysed (2017–2026).
From the lesson Free fall and vertical motion under gravity in Motion in a Straight Line. Change the values and watch what happens.
In JEE Main
42 shifts analysed
30 questions from Motion in a Straight Line across the 42 JEE Main shifts Lumi has analysed (2017–2026).
The idea behind it
NCERT § "Kinematic Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion"
- Near the earth's surface, with air resistance neglected, every body has the same downward acceleration g ≈ 9.8 m s⁻², whatever its mass.
- If upward is taken positive, a = −g throughout the flight, on the way up, at the top and on the way down.
- A body released from rest falls a distance ½gt² in time t, and its speed after falling a height h is √(2gh).
- A body thrown up with speed u rises to a height u²/2g in time u/g; with no air resistance it takes the same time to come down to the launch level and returns with the same speed.
- When a body is thrown up from a height above the ground, use one equation from launch to landing with the landing displacement taken as negative; there is no need to split the flight.
- Galileo's law of odd numbers: for a body starting from rest with constant acceleration, distances covered in successive equal time intervals are in the ratio 1 : 3 : 5 : 7 and so on.
- In free fall, v plotted against t is a straight line with slope −g (upward positive), while x plotted against t is a parabola.
Questions
3 answers
- What does the "Thrown up, coming down: one acceleration all the way" simulation show?
- Press Play. The green arrow is the velocity and the red arrow is the acceleration. Watch the red arrow on the way up, at the top and on the way down.
- Does JEE Main ask questions from Motion in a Straight Line?
- Yes. JEE Main asked 30 questions from this chapter across the 42 shifts Lumi has analysed (2017–2026).
- Is this simulation free?
- Yes. It is free and runs in the browser on a phone or a laptop. It belongs to the lesson "Free fall and vertical motion under gravity" in Motion in a Straight Line (Class 11 Physics).
Embed this simulation
Free, with a link back
Teaching this idea? Put the simulation on your own page or LMS with this code.