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A boy standing in a lift falling freely under gravity releases a ball from his hand. As seen by him the ball:

Correct answer: B. Remains stationary

  • A. Falls down
  • B. Remains stationary
  • C. Goes up
  • D. None of the above

Explanation

The correct option is B) Remain stationary When the lift falls freely under gravity (in free fall), everything inside the lift, including the boy and the ball, accelerates at the same rate due to gravity. Since both the boy and the ball are accelerating downward at the same rate, they effectively remain in the same relative position within the lift. Therefore, as observed by the boy, the ball would appear to remain stationary in the air when released from his hand. Gravity is acting equally on both the boy and the ball, causing them to fall together, and the ball does not exhibit any relative motion with respect to the boy in this scenario.

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About Gravitation

Newton’s law of universal gravitation relates the force between masses to their masses and separation, while gravitational field strength explains weight and orbital motion. The topic covers satellite velocity and period, escape ideas, weightlessness in free fall, and artificial gravity, which differs from ordinary gravitational attraction.

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