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The bowling ball isn’t falling to the earth faster. The higher perceived acceleration is due to the earth falling toward the bowling ball.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Bowling ball. Because wind resistance is a thing and the feather has higher surface area creating more drag, and there’s no such thing as a perfect vacuum.

    • BB84@mander.xyzOP
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      1 month ago

      A feather has smaller cross-section area than a bowling ball. But drag acceleration is proportional to the cross-section area divided by the mass (and this quantity is indeed smaller for the bowling ball).

      Anyway the hypothetical scenario in this meme is a perfect vacuum. Check my other comments to see why it still works.