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What happens to the speed of a falling object with each second under gravity?

  1. It decreases consistently

  2. It remains constant

  3. It increases by approximately 10 m/s

  4. It fluctuates based on air resistance

The correct answer is: It increases by approximately 10 m/s

The speed of a falling object under the influence of gravity increases consistently due to acceleration caused by gravity. On Earth, this acceleration is approximately 9.81 m/s², which is often rounded to about 10 m/s² for simplicity in many introductory physics problems. This means that for each second an object is in free fall, it gains speed by about 10 meters per second. For example, if an object starts at rest, after one second it will be traveling at roughly 10 m/s, after two seconds at about 20 m/s, and so on. The context of gravitational acceleration is crucial here, as it is a constant that affects all objects in free fall regardless of their mass, as long as we can ignore air resistance. In real scenarios, air resistance could affect the falling speed, but the question specifically addresses the ideal case under gravity, where the increasing speed can be predictably calculated. This consistent increase in speed is what confirms that the correct answer is indeed related to the 10 m/s increase per second.