Calculate free fall time, final velocity, and distance under gravity. Supports Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and custom gravity values. Perfect for physics students and educators.
Free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In a uniform gravitational field with air resistance neglected, all objects fall with the same acceleration regardless of their mass. The standard acceleration due to gravity on Earth is approximately 9.80665 m/s².
h = ½gt² Calculate height from fall time t = √(2h/g) Calculate fall time from height v = gt Calculate final velocity from time v² = 2gh Calculate velocity from height Free fall is the motion of an object under the influence of gravitational force only, with no other forces (like air resistance) acting on it. In a vacuum, a feather and a bowling ball fall at the same rate.
The standard acceleration due to gravity on Earth is approximately 9.80665 m/s² (or about 32.174 ft/s²). This value can vary slightly depending on your altitude and location on Earth.
In a vacuum, mass does not affect free fall — all objects accelerate at the same rate. However, in real-world conditions with air resistance, lighter or less aerodynamic objects fall more slowly than dense, streamlined objects.
Using the formula h = ½gt², in 5 seconds you would fall approximately 122.6 meters (402 feet) on Earth, reaching a final velocity of about 49 m/s (176 km/h or 109 mph).
Terminal velocity is the maximum speed an object reaches when falling through a fluid (like air) when the drag force equals the gravitational force. For a human skydiver, terminal velocity is about 53 m/s (190 km/h or 120 mph) in a belly-to-earth position.